Falling Over Again
by Beautifully Tragic Girl
Summary: "You're not serious, right?" "Deadly," his voice a near whisper. "But..." she stuttered, "I can't marry you." "Why not?" "Well, you're...you." Fiyero has a situation that involves Elphaba and a ring on a certain finger. This isn't going to be pretty...
1. Chapter 1: Accidents Of Fate

**Disclaimer: It's called FANFICTION for a reason. Do the math. **

**A/N: New story because it's been stuck in my mind for ages. Elements from The Proposal and maybe a couple others used. Majorly OOC. Really badly written because i was trying to get it down before i forgot it. **

**Chapter One**

The sun gleamed against the building walls of the Emerald City. The rays hit the pathways and refracted into an array of rainbow colours. The hooves of horse clopped against the roads. The nonsense chatter of people rang out through the Emerald City. Propaganda posters lined the city walls as people hurried past them trying to get their last minute coffee before heading to work. Unless you're one Elphaba Thropp, late for work and are going to be skinned alive. Her emerald pigmentation made her highly recognisable in crowds, her piecing dark chocolate eyes made everyone avoid any eye contact with her, her ebony tresses were slightly curled and very thickly layered. Many people were not able to get past the colour of her skin, but a select few did. She didn't have many friends because she either; locked her emotions away from everyone or because of her demeanor or because she had set up barriers to protect her from hurt, but only one person had actually hurt her. Her lover. She shared an apartment block with her disabled, paraplegic sister, Nessarose, and her best friend, Glinda Upland of the Upper Uplands. She had only ever had two friends, her sister and best friend and one lover ever, who had left her once the _i__ncident_ happened, but she rid her thoughts of those past memories.

At the present moment though, she wasn't thinking about her appearances or her best friend or her once time lover. She was attempting to get to work before her boss skinned her alive. She ran through the streets. Dodging the crowds, trying not to stumble on the cracks and crevasses on the paths; hastily tying and pulling her hair up in a ponytail, her bag slung over one shoulder as she ran towards the office building.

She saw the revolving door up ahead and entered the office block. Her shoes clicked against the marble flooring, the walls were coloured a light emerald green; in dedication to The Wizard. People were running around like headless chickens in a sad attempt to not be late for work. Elphaba scoffed at the prospect, but then again she was one of those 'sad' souls late for work. She scurried through the main entrance, breathing a sigh of relief when she entered the main foyer of the office block; the elevator ride was peaceful; up to the fifty-first floor. The ride in the elevator felt excruciatingly long though. Elphaba kept checking the side panel anxiously as the elevator stopped to collect people. The elevator finally let out a ding and she was up in the fifty-first floor. Her heels clicked as she dashed to her office building. She headed down the hallway to her office, through many twists and turns she finally arrived at room 143 (her office). She fumbled with the lock, as she tried to open the door.

"Elphaba!" she heard a voice from down the hallway. Elphaba's body whipped around to see the figure. She gasped. _Oh, Sweet Lurline save me_. His azure-coloured eyes shone in the lighting, his tanned skin glowed and looked absolutely radiant, his lips void any show of emotion that came her way. She could see those beautiful blue diamonds on his chest because of the low neckline the shirt he was wearing had. His face was expressionless and was nothing like that time when they— _Elphaba, stop thinking like that. _

"Yes?" She asked, trying to rid her thoughts of her previous memories.

"Where's my schedule?" he demanded.

"On your desk, top left corner," Elphaba deadpanned, _as usual. _

He looked like he was waiting for something, but Elphaba just gave him a weird look, "You're supposed to be my assistant, so go and do what you assistants do and go assist me!"

"Yes Sir!" Elphaba said quickly and paced off to his office. She was quite intimidated by him, not only because of his position of power, but he was also the Crown Prince of the Vinkus and had piercing (emphasis on piercing) azure-coloured eyes that she could get lost in so often. _Elphaba rid your head of those thought. Sure thing if I didn't have to see them so often. _She had always felt so naked under his gaze and that's not only in the metephorical sense.

He entered his office and found his schedule, she accidentally knocked something over. She hastily put it back in its place, until something on his desk caught her attention. A photograph. She grabbed the photo frame and looked at the image inside the frame. It was of her and him when they were together. He had his hands around her waist and was spinning her around. She was smiling widely and he looked like he didn't have a care in the world. Elphaba missed the memory, she remembered it well though.

_**Flashback **_

_**4 Years Ago**_

"_Fae," Fiyero called after her, "stop running from me."_

"_You know you love my running," she shot back._

"_You know I do," he said and wrapped his arms around her waist, "I thank the Unnamed God for your high stamina, otherwise we wouldn't be able to do our 'nightly activites," he added suggestively. _

_She rolled her eyes and pretended to be deep in thought with chin-tapping, "Hmmm. I think you're right. Now come on I want some lunch," wriggling out of his grasp._

"_Okay, where?" he asked falling in step with her. _

"_I don't care I just want to spend time with you." _

"_Oh stop getting so sentimental," he pretended to scold and wrapped an arm around her waist and kissed her temple tenderly._

"_You love me and my sentimentality."_

"_Too true," he said and kissed her chastely on the lips. _

"_Good, come on I'm hungry."_

"_Can't we go home and back to bed instead?" he whined in a child-like way, but he wiggled his eyebrows in a less than subtle way to indicate what he wanted. _

_Elphaba rolled her eyes, "You and your male mind." _

"_You love me and my male mind," he rebutted, "and other parts," and winked._

"_You are so stupidly male; just thank Lurline that I'm so stupidly female." _

"_You stupidly female? How is that possible? My darling Fae, you're the smartest woman I know, hence why you're my assistant."_

"_Yero, don't remind me of that," she pleaded with him pressing her index finger to his lips and looking away from his eyes. _

"_Why? I love you and I want to tell everyone, why can't we just tell them?" _

"_Because I'm still your assistant and everyone would think you're taking advantage of me and they would talk and I couldn't stand if that happened to you."_

"_I don't care Fae, I love you and if they talk, I don't care."_

"_I guess, but your reputation and title—"_

_He gently pressed a finger to her lips cutting her off, "I don't care. I love you," he articulated and enunciated every word he said. _

"_I love you too, now lunch..." she said._

"_I think I'll skip lunch, all I want is you," he kissed her passionately on the lips, before grabbing her waist and spinning her, "I love you," he whispered in her ear and setting her down again. _

"_I know. Never leave me because my heart would break and shatter into one million pieces if you did."_

"_Never," he kissed her again, "I'll never leave you," he kissed her and looked straight into the warm, dark chocolate eyes, "That's a promise."_

_They never got to lunch._

_**Flashback Over**_

A tear slipped from Elphaba's eye, but she wiped it away quickly. She composed her herself and headed back to find Fiyero flirting his ass off with a blonde secretary.

"Fiyero!" Elphaba said promptly.

"Yeah, whatever Elphaba, just go away," Fiyero said not taking his eyes off the blonde, "so what time should I pick you up?"

"Say around eight," she said and traced the blue diamonds on his chest that were showing and fluttered her eyelashes.

Elphaba rolled her eyes, _he hates the fluttering eyelashes. He prefers subtle touches on the arm and how the hell did I know that? _

"Sounds good to me," he said as he traced her jaw line.

Jealousy flared up in Elphaba and she stiffened. _Stop it, _her mind scolded, _he's not yours anymore. _Elphaba pushed the feelings out of her head and stormed off to her office.

She slammed her door so hard that the photo frames on the walls shook. She carefully realigned them and went back to her desk. Tears were staining her face, but she ignored them and wiped them away. She flopped herself in her leather chair and threw her legs onto her desk. There wasn't much in her office, only a simple wood desk in the middle, a bookself in one corner, a filing cabinet in the other and a window the length of the wall with a terrific view of the Emerald City. There was small table beneath the window that held things of value to her; her mother's green bottle, a few trinkest from when she was younger and a couple of photographs.

She checked his schedule for what he had today. Her eyes ran across the page, reading and letting every detail on the page sink in. She put her reading glasses on and opened her laptop. She started typing out her dissertation on the Welfare Of Animals for her University Entrance Essay; she was thinking about going back to university because she has a degree in Life Sciences and History and she doesn't use it with this job. Just as she was about to dot her last sentence a message came up for her on her computer screen form Fiyero.

_Elphaba, come now I am in need of your assisting._

_-Fiyero_

Elphaba sighed and shut her laptop screen down and headed out the door to Fiyero's office. She knocked before entering and got the shock of her life. She sucked in a breath when she saw the scene before her. Her palms clenched into fists and her body stiffened.

The blonde he was chatting up earlier was on the sofa in his office, with her skirt zipper pulled down and the buttons on her shirt was undone and it was hanging loose on her body. He was on top of her and his shirt was discarded across the room and Elphaba could clearly see his blue diamonds across his chest; the one she used to kiss when they— _Elphaba stop thinking like this. _But she couldn't feelings of hurt and jealous flared up in her again, but she didn't make a sound or even move and her eyes were locked in his bare chest.

"Fiyero," the sultry voice of the blonde called from underneath him, "who's this?"

"No one special."

Elphaba tried to ignore the feelings of hurt and rejection that he had just said. _No one will ever love you. _Her father had always told her, but she felt more hurt than rejected.

"Fiyero..." Elphaba tried, but he didn't listen.

"Do you have something to say? Because I doubt it's important," he put blatantly and returned his attention to the blonde and kissed her on the lips in front of Elphaba, not really caring that she was right in front of him.

"I'll just go," her voice cracked forgetting the message he sent her.

"It's better for all of us," he said coldly.

"I just...came by to tell you that you have an eleven o'clock meeting and run through your schedule, but I can see you're busy. I'll just leave," her voice was cracking, but he didn't notice. Tears were threatening to fill her eyes.

"Goodbye," he deadpanned and returned his attention to the blonde.

* * *

Elphaba curled herself into the foetal position and cried. He obviously forgot that today was the day they met each other in the coffee shop by the road. The one on thecurb of the street. The one where they always discussed meetings and how many people at work were self absorbed and deeply shallow and it was the place where they fell in love with each other, but of course they stopped going there altogether when they broke up.

_**Flashback**_

_**5 Years Ago **_

_Elphaba Thropp was late for her interview. She hurried through the Emerald City trying to find the closet Ozbucks. Her feet pounded against the concrete pathway as she ran through the city trying to find a place that sold coffee. She was already ten minutes late for her interview and she was absolutely screwed if she didn't make the interview. Her friend, Glinda, had pulled so many strings for her to get the interview. Elphaba was trying to pay the rent so her sister and she could live together. So far she was just scraping enough to afford the rent. Glinda had felt sorry for her friend and offered to buy the house for them, putting into consideration that she was the heiress of a wealthy Gillikin, she could afford to pay for her friend's house, but Elphaba insisted that she would make her own living. So Glinda pulled a lot of strings with her parents so Elphaba could get an interview. It worked, but they only agreed to one interview. Glinda thanked them profusely and told Elphaba the joyous news. _

_Elphaba finally found a small coffee shop on the curb of the end street. She didn't really care where she got her coffee from, she just needed some coffee. She entered the small cafe, which was really small, but it had a nice warm glow inside it. It felt like a home. The walls were lined with posters of when local bands were playing, poetry recitals, book readings and general directions for the public. There were no propaganda posters on the walls and Elphaba smiled. __This was what all coffee shops should look like,__ she thought. There were small wooden chairs and tables scattered around the small space of the room, it wasn't overcrowded, but it wasn't exactly spacious. _

"_One caramel and hazelnut coffee with two sugars please and pronto," Elphaba ordered at the counter quickly._

"_Of course," the girl behind the counter said and dashed off to the coffee._

_Elphaba was bouncing on her toes and wringing her fingers together; anxious to get to her interview. When the girl finally handed her the coffee she rammed straight into the person behind her, slipping the coffee all over her white shirt and his black one._

"_Oh My, I'm such a clutz," Elphaba said as she began to rummage furiously in her bag for a napkin, but he handed her one, "thanks," and she began to dab away at the stain, like it would do any good though._

"_Oh no, I apologise, it was my fault. I shouldn't have stood so close to you," he insisted and dabbed at the stains on his shirt. _

"_No," Elphaba said, "It was my fault, I was in a rush. I should have been more careful. I'm sorry."_

"_No I apologise, I insist and let's not talk about this anymore," he said and handed her another napkin._

"_Thanks, but as much as I would love to continue this conversation I must call my interviewer and tell him I can't make it."_

"_Oh you have a job interview?" he said, "I apologise for any inconvenience."_

"_It's okay," Elphaba grabbed her phone out of her bag and dialled the number. As soon as Elphaba pressed the call button, Fiyero's phone rang._

"_Hello, Fiyero Tiggular speaking."_

_The colour from Elphaba's face drained and she looked at Fiyero, "You're Fiyero Tiggular?"_

"_Yes, why?" he asked, "Hello? Are you still there?" he said into the phone._

"_I'm Elphaba Thropp, the person who you're supposed to interview."_

"_Oh, you're Elphaba Thropp," he shook her hand in a very formal fashion, "How are you?"_

_She giggled and smiled, "I'm very good thank you and you?"_

"_I'm fine, but let's not stand around all day," he lead her to a table for two in the back corner of the cafe. He called over a waiter and asked for a caramel and hazelnut coffee with two sugars for Elphaba and a quarter strain cappuccino for himself and two bagels. _

"_How did you know that?"_

"_Know what?" he asked looking into her dark chocolate eyes. _

"_The coffee I had."_

"_Oh I have a way with coffee," he joked, her laugh has contagious and it rang throughout the cafe, "No, I just smelt the scent."_

"_Okay."_

_Their coffees and bagels arrived and he began the interview._

"_So Miss Thropp—"_

_She cut him off, "Call me Elphaba, I don't like formalities."_

"_In that case then, call me Fiyero."_

"_Okay, __Fiyero__," she strained his name to get the point across. _

"_Okay, __Elphaba__," he did the exact same thing as she did, "why do you want this job?"_

"_Um... I actually don't know what the job is, my friend Glinda set it up for me."_

"_Glinda, my good friend, how is she?"_

"_Good and more beautiful than ever," Elphaba replied and pulled a bit off her bagel and popping it into her mouth. _

"_That's good to know. This job is my personal assistant. You will need to keep up with my schedule, help me with things around the office, collect photocopies, answer the phone, stuff like that."_

"_Sounds thrilling," Elphaba remarked dryly._

"_It's not the best job in the world, but someone needs to do it. Are you still interested?"_

"_I don't really have a choice, I have no job and I need to help Nessie out."_

"_Nessie? Who's Nessie?"_

"_Oh, Nessie's my sister. She's a paraplegic, so I'm trying to provide for her," her eyes cast a shadow as she pretended to stir the milk in her coffee. _

"_Oh Elphaba, I'm so sorry." Now he understood how much she needed this job, so he did what any sympathetic person would do, "You have the job."_

_Her head snapped up, "What?"_

"_You have the job and not only that I'm doubling your salary."_

"_What? You can't do that."_

"_I can and will. Elphaba your sister needs you and I'm only helping," he said, "besides I like you better than the other applicants. Some of them I think only wanted to have sex with me."_

"_Are you sure?"_

"_Positive and to be honest you seem like a nice person, even if you look a little young, you seem quite nice."_

"_How old do you think I am?"_

"_Twenty five at the most if you're providing for your sister."_

"_Wrong. Eighteen." _

"_Sweet Oz, that's young, but what can I say, I'm running my own company at twenty."_

_Elphaba's eyes went wide, "You're only twenty?"_

"_Yep, I usually get that from people. So I'll see you at the office block in Ozwald Street on Monday at nine am sharp. Level fifty-one."_

"_Thank you so much," she said shaking his hand, "and thanks for the coffee," pulling out some money to pay him with._

_He shook his head, "Keep it, you'll need it."_

"_Are you sure?"_

"_Positive."_

"_Thanks, Fiyero, see you tomorrow," he said as she walked out the door._

_It couldn't hurt__, he thought, "Hey Elphaba," he called after her._

_Her head whipped around, this motion made her ebony tresses glow in the sunlight. _

_She has beautiful hair__, he thought. _

_"Was there something you needed?" she asked him approaching him, until she was a few centimetres from him. _

"_Um... I was wondering if you wanted to have dinner with me this Friday?" he asked uneasily then he hurriedly added, "because it's fine if you don't want to because we are going to working together and—" _

_She put her index finger to his lips, shushed him and said, "Love to." _

_**Flashback Over**_

The memory still haunted her. Maybe if she'd never met Fiyero that day her life would be different. The tears continued their tracks down her face.

* * *

**Very random story that came to mind. It will be multi-chaptered, but my main focus at the moment is Defying All Odds. If you want me to do more, just tell me. I hope you liked it because I think I quite like this story. Just to clarify a few things...**

**1. This will be more Musicalverse than bookverse, but will contain elements from the book.**

**2. This is majorly AU and OOC**

**3. Fiyero has blue diamonds because I felt like it. (Great reason, right?)**

**4. Is mainly told from Elphaba's POV in third person.**

**5. Glinda, Nessa and Boq will make appearances later and play a bigger role soon.**

**6. Fiyero and Elphaba share a past, I shall not specify details of this past, but they share one. **

**7. Fiyero seems so moody in the present than in the flashbacks because when he and Elphaba broke up something happened. You'll find out in later chapters.**

**8. The plot might be a bit confusifying because I'm establishing the settings and moods.**

**9. Elphaba and Fiyero didn't go to University together, so they never knew each other before they met each other in the Cafe**

**10. There are a lot of flashbacks in this story and when reading the flashbacks make sure you always read how many years before the present it is because they won't necessarily be in order. **

**I hope you enjoyed it. **

**Question of The Week. (I felt like doing something like this) **

**What's your favourite number?**

**Larri **

**x**


	2. Chapter 2: Moments In Time

**Disclaimer: I don't own it, etc, etc, etc. Moving on.**

**A/N: Hi, Your favourite 14 year old is back, just kidding. Full stop. Sorry it took so long for me to update. I was really busy and I was focusing on Defying All Odds. I apologise if this is not as good as the last one. I have writer's block. Again. Lots of swearing. Filler-ish. OOC Elphaba. High T. **

**Ps. Anyone seen Two Weeks Notice and knows Lucy's Office? Well, I personally think that Elphaba's office looks like that. Just so you know. **

* * *

**Chapter 2**

"Elphaba!" Fiyero yelled from the bottom of the hallway, tapping his foot in an annoyed fashion as he waited for Elphaba to come.

"Yes Sir?" Elphaba replied promptly and rushed to his side; pen and paper at the ready and he started to walked as soon as Elphaba arrived, making sure he was always a step in front of her.

"Make sure you remember to make an appointment for my suit fitting tomorrow for the annual Ozdust Ballroom Ball," he said, not bothering to stop, so Elphaba could write that down.

"Yes, Sir."

"Good, because I need to go this year because for the past five years I haven't gone and if I don't go again this year, I'm going to be bombarded with questions."

_Past five years? _Elphaba though, _but that would mean—Elphaba stop thinking like that, _Elphaba rid her mind of those thoughts and turned back to her boss,"Okay, any times in particular, Sir?"

"Make it at eleven in the morning and make sure you are able to come along."

Elphaba halted to a stop and nearly dropped her pen, "Why?" she asked with a tone of annoyance lacing her words.

"So you help me out. That's your job isn't it, to assist me?"

Elphaba hastily regained her composure, "Of course, sir, I'll just check it against my schedule."

"No, you won't, you'll come with me whatever you have on," he snapped back.

Now Elphaba would never defy his orders...well her was so intimidating and he was her boss and everyone knows you never sass your boss and he's the Crown Prince _and _he's her ex-lover, which makes the situation just..._dandy_. She just nodded her head, "Yes, sir," she wrote down a couple of notes before asking, "Anything else?"

"No, now go back and do your work!" he snapped again and skilfully waved his hands as if sending her off like some sort of animal.

Elphaba's anger bubbled underneath the surface, but she ignored it and somehow she squeaked in fear, "yes, sir!" she said quickly and sped walked...well as fast as anyone can when wearing black, six-inch, stiletto shoes, back to her office. She carefully opened her door and gently shut it, making sure that she didn't shake the wall this time. Upon entry, Elphaba flung the notepad rather uncoordinatedly onto her desk

Elphaba collapsed in a heap on her chair. Her arms rested on the armrests and her head titled up towards the ceiling as if looking for a sign to tell her something. _Please tell me that there's more to my existence than being a personal assistant. There's got to be, isn't there? _Her mind was filled with thoughts that she had never even considered before, _what is the point of, my existence?_ She pondered on the thought for a short period of time. Her hair was in a loosened ponytail as opposed to the tight one she had bound her hair in that morning. She pulled at the elastic that held her hair together and her ebony tresses tumbled onto her shoulders. She ruffled a few fingers through her hair to make it presentable. She sighed and stopped her actions to try and make her hair look presentable.

_It's no use, why do I bother anymore. It's not like he loves me anymore, _but a part of her mind contemplated something that she had ever even thought of herself; that she would never even considered; _did he ever love you? _

_Of course he did,_ her conscience told her profusely.

_Yes, but did her ever tell you?_

_He did._

_How do you even know?_

_He told me._

_Yeah sure, _a voice in her head mocked,_ how could anyone ever love you? You're green, you have the worst temper ever, a sarcastic demeanour, you block everyone you love away and you set up barriers so they can't figure out the real you, shall I go on?_

"No that's enough," Elphaba whispered to herself as her eyes became read and puffy and she sniffed. Hot tears welded up in her eyes and they fell, as if a year's worth of tears and emotions were pouring out of her system. She attempted to find a tissue. She used the bottom of her shirt, but her mascara stained it. _Damnit, I should have worn the waterproof stuff Glinda suggested. _The tears still fell freely from her face and she put both of her hands on her desk as her head dangled in between her arms. Her hair fell over her face to hide how red and puffy her face looked, _Damned tears, why can he make me cry so much? _

_Because love hurts, _her conscience reminded her gently.

"I never loved him," Elphaba whispered to herself and the statement gave her a dosage of reality. A dose of reality she necessarily didn't want.

_No you did Elphaba and I know, you did and that's why it hurts so much._

The revelation made Elphaba's head spin in circles, she shook her head a s if saying no, ten thousand times over, "No!"

_Say what you will, but you loved him, you just don't want to admit it. _

"No!" she tried to convince herself that her conscience was being ridiculous, but she felt that it was right somehow. More tears fell freely and they landed on her paperwork and created stains on them.

"Shit, damned tears," she tried to cruse, but it came out as a sniffed cry. She tried wiping the tears away from the paper, but failed at doing so. She gave up eventually and threw the paper to the other side of the room. She collapsed into her chair once again and wiped the remaining tears away with her index finger. Her bottom lip pouted and she bit down on the lip.

"Elphaba!" Fiyero called at her door suddenly.

Elphaba jumped back in her chair and screamed uncharacteristically. She put her hand over her heart, "Fiyero you sacred me. Don't do that."

"Yeah, yeah whatever," he said and wave her off again, the anger bubbled beneath the surface again, but she ignored it. He was stood there looking pretty darned pissed at her or something. Her head shot up immediately and looked him in the eye, which is something not many people did considering that the eyes are the window to the soul and they were so intimidating, but putting into retrospect that Elphaba has looked into his eyes time and time again, she was let's say...immune to the effects, "Elphaba have you arranged my suit fitting yet?"

"Fuck," she cursed and bolted from her seat and rushed out of her office and went to the main reception and he swears he saw that her eyes were red and puffy like she was..._crying?_ Fiyero scoffed at the prospect of Elphaba crying and waved it off and said it was a trick of the light, but then his conscience thought, _what if she was crying?_

_She was not crying, she's Elphaba, _Fiyero thought himself, _damned bloody conscience._

_How __do__ you know?_

_She's Elphaba and she never cries, expect that one time when—_

_Fiyero! That is a particular memory I'd—we'd rather not remember._

_Who cares, it was over a year ago. _

_I—we care. _

_Why? It's not like she loves me anymore. Did she ever love me though? _

_What? She's important to you, she made you see your true colours and she definitely loved you, she told you countless times again and again. _

_Maybe that's because she wanted something from me. Money perhaps? Anyway she was nothing to me. She never was, hence why she's not with me anymore. She can go fuck whoever she pleases now, like how I can do the same. _

_You insufferable boy! _His conscience exclaimed, Fiyero sighed, he was getting tired of this conversation happening all over again, his conscience telling him he's brainless and him denying it and his conscience telling him he threw away the one person who loved him for who _he _was and not the affluent businessman he was,_ You threw away the one person you __actually__ loved you for who __you__ are and you threw her away like yesterday's Ozmopolitan and for what? For your pride? So you could go fuck more than one person? Well newsflash, you could go fuck a hundred women and it will never feel as good as making love to the one woman that matters. _

_Believe what you will. _

_Yeah, I believe what I want, but it's only because you believe it._

Fiyero's male mind tried to comprehend what his conscience was saying—thinking, _what do you mean?_

_I'm your conscience remember, I'm a part of you. Whatever you think, I think too, _his conscience decided to end the conversation there.

That left Fiyero staring into space in his ex-lover's office. Trying to grasp the concept his conscience was contemplating on. After many minutes of thinking he decided it was not worth his time not effort for that matter and ignored what his conscience had told time.

He wandered around her office in circles like a hawk. He stared at the trinkets on her desk. Picking them up and inspecting them as if they had an explosive concealed in the base. He wandered around her office opening draws and snooping...more like _trying, _to into the head if a certain Elphaba Thropp. Eventually he gave up and decided that it was pointless. He would never find any dirt on his assistant. There were no love letters, no way to show that she had a life away from the office. He let out an annoyed huff and collapsed on her couch and felt something dig into his back. He turned around to see a black leather book bound by a thin black ribbon wedged between the arm of the couch and the cushion. He knew it was probably wrong to take a peek inside, but then again he lost all sense of morals and duty when he broke up with..._Elphaba. _He shook the thoughts from his head and opened the book. It was a diary. _Elphaba's diary_. Realisation dawned over him; _this is her diary of when we were...together. _He quickly skimmed through the book, his fingers flipping through the pages and his eyes stopped short on a page...

_**June Twenty Second**_

_Okay, so my day started off terribly. One I was late for my job interview and I hadn't had any coffee and to add to all that trouble I couldn't find a coffee shop. So I had to go to this one on the curb, but I wasn't complaining. I just needed some coffee. Well then I bumped into a random stranger and spilt coffee all over myself and him. I apologised and it turns out that he was my interviewer. Luck coincidence hey? Anyway, we had coffee, we talked and he gave me the job on the basis that I have to care for Nessa. Afterwards he...well basically asked me out on date and started babbling on about something so I shut him up by saying yes, I would have kissed him, but wouldn't it be a bit strange to kiss someone I just met? Anyway, I got the job and now I've got to tell Glinda. I'm so excited...for some reason. Is it the job or is it the date? Who knows. _

Fiyero closed the diary after that. It was so wrong on so many levels, but he couldn't bear to read anymore. It just seemed wrong..._wait, had he, Fiyero Tiggular, gained a conscience?_

_You already had one, you douche bag, _and his conscience was back. Fiyero inwardly groaned.

_I think I realise that, but why now? Out of all the times._

_Because you love her, _his conscience said matter-of-factly.

_What? That's not true; I never loved her...well maybe once upon a time, but certainly not now!_

_Yeah sure, Tiggular, believe what you will, but in the end I'm always right. _

Fiyero groaned. At that moment Elphaba decided to enter the room. He hastily shoved Elphaba's diary back where he found it.

She composed himself back to the cold hearted boss he is and snapped, "Well...did you get my suit fitting?"

Elphaba was surprised at him for quickly reverting himself to the self centred, heartless boss than the man she just saw about five minutes ago, "Uh..." Elphaba flipped through the stacks of folders she had to a sheet that had his schedule on it, "Yes, you have a suit fitting at Ozmarni tomorrow morning at eleven."

"Yep, okay," Fiyero said and nodded, he went out the door, but stuck his head back in and added, "make sure you carry those boxes in my office to the basement." He flashed her, his most charming smile and pulled his head from the doorway and walked back down the hallway to his office.

_Well at least he asked...somewhat nicely. _

_Somewhat being the operative word, Fae._

Elphaba fumed at the voice in her head, _don't call me Fae, that was his nickname for...me._

And for what felt like the millionth time today she cried. She put her head in the palm of her hands and the tears fell, she slumped on the couch, she shoulders slumped and she let her tears fall.

**XoxoX**

"He's never going to fall in love," one of the interns said as Elphaba passed them. This was usually one of the cultish, social rituals, gossiping about their boss and his love life/life. The women in the office would usually perform this ritual during their lunch break. They would gather around someone's desk and make and circle and in 'hushed' whispers gossip about everything and anything. Today the hot topic was the boss's love life, to Elphaba's dismay.

_Pathetic_, Elphaba thought, _thinking that he's never going to fall in love. Everyone falls in love...eventually. _

"But really, he's never going to, he's too cold hearted for his own wellbeing," another pointed out in a hushed whisper.

"Has he ever fallen in love though?" another asked.

"Maybe..." she pondered on thought and tapped her small chin, "actually never."

They all burst into a fit of giggles.

"Excuse me ladies," Elphaba interrupted.

Their heads all turned in unison.

"Yes?" one of them asked.

"Isn't your lunch break over?"

"No," the sultry blonde she saw Fiyero making out with said, "not for another..." the blonde checked her watch, "fifteen minutes. Wanna join the gossip fest," and patted the seat next to her.

Elphaba would have said no, but she was curious to discover where this conversation would lead to, "Sure," Elphaba said slowly and sat next to the blonde, "so what are you talking about?"

"Fiyero's love life," they all replied in unison.

"So as I was saying," one continued, "he has never fallen in love and he never will."

They all burst into laughter except Elphaba, the blonde nudged her and asked, "Why aren't you laughing?"

"I have to disagree with that statement," Elphaba said bravely and stood up, "everyone falls in love...eventually. It just takes some people longer than others."

"Hmmm," one said then burst into laughter, "nah, he's never going to fall in love."

Everyone burst into laughter again.

"What if he did, long ago?" Elphaba said suddenly.

Their laughter stopped immediately.

"What?"

"With who?"

"When?"

"This has got to be a joke."

As the women chatted and debated on the subject of the love debacle they were having, Elphaba recalled a memory she didn't necessarily want to remember.

_**Flashback **_

_**4 And A Half Years Ago**_

"_Yero!" Elphaba exclaimed, "You're getting me all wet." Wringing out the bottom of her shirt for the water he'd just splashed on her._

"_Like it matters, you don't mind anyway," he said grinning and wrapping an arm around her waist and kissing her temple._

_She stopped drying the plate and turned and faced him, "Hmmm," she said with thoughtful chin-tapping, "you're right," she leaned up and kissed him passionately on the lips. He happily kissed her back and she smiled against his lips. She momentarily forgot about the dishes and just happily kissed Fiyero in the kitchen; while she was in her distracted state he flicked some of the dishwater on her skirt. _

"_Yero," she scolded playfully and slapped him gently on the arm, "I told you not to get me wet."_

"_You said you didn't mind," and tapped her nose. _

"_I change that, I do mind."_

"_Yeah sure, Fae, believe what you want."_

"_I think I might punish you actually," she said deviously._

"_What kind of punishment, Fae?"_

"_Wouldn't you like to find out?" she said sarcastically._

"_I'm listening," and kissed her neck. _

"_That's not a punishment," she pointed out and tilted her head to give him better access to her neck. _

"_Are you sure?" he whispered against the skin on her neck. She could feel his hot breath on her neck and it took all her resistance not to respond. She was trying to 'punish' him not get him aroused. _

_She smiled and scoffed and pried herself from him and continued doing the dishes, leaving Fiyero confused. She stared out the window above the sink, she could see Fiyero's confused expression and smiled that he was taking his 'punishment' well. _

"_Can I help with the dishes at least?" he asked flashing her, his most charming smile._

"_If you promise to actually __help__ this time."_

"_Sure..."_

"_She scoffed and rolled her eyes in a very Elphaba-like move, __Yeah right. _

_**5 Minutes Later**_

"_Yero, you're getting me wet!" Elphaba exclaimed from the sink and deadpanned, "again. You promised you'd help."_

"_You'd said I had to help, you never said how," he replied and wrapped arm around her waist and kissed her temple once again. _

"_This is not helping," she exclaimed in a mock fit of fury and untangled herself from his embrace, "you're getting me, and not to mention the floor wet."_

"_Well, why didn't you say so?" he asked her with sarcasm dripping from his voice. He crouched on the floor, making the water soak up in the material in his pants and began to clean the floor with a tea towel._

_Elphaba rolled her eyes and began to help him clean the floor with a mop because she couldn't let her lover clean the floor by himself could she._

_Wait...lover?__ Elphaba's brain tried to comprehend what she'd just called Fiyero._

_Yes, you love Fiyero, even if he doesn't love you._

_But how can I love him? I've only known him for about six months._

_But you've spent nearly every moment with him then._

_But...__ Elphaba tried to find an excuse for her not loving Fiyero, but it was pointless denying something that was very true. _

_Tell him, tell him__, a little voice in her head said._

_No? What if he doesn't say it back? What if—_

_Shut up about all these what if's and tell him._

_Elphaba looked down at the man who was cleaning before her. He was beautiful and perfect and absolutely adoring to her, he treated her like porcelain, even though she objected to him doing it, she didn't want him to stop. Elphaba then looked at herself, she was imperfect, she had a terrible temper, she was too sarcastic for her own good and she couldn't tell if she loved the man in front of her. _

"_Fiyero?" Elphaba asked with uncertainty. _

"_Yes?" he looked up at her and saw the look of uncertainty on her face. She was clutching the mop like her life depended on it and was on the brink of tears. He took her into his embrace and she wrapped her arms around his neck._

"_Fiyero, I love you," she whispered into his ear suddenly. _

_He pulled himself away from Elphaba, just enough so he could look into her eyes, "What'd you say?"_

"_I...I have to go now," she pried herself from Fiyero's embrace and went up the stairs to her...their bedroom. He heard the slamming of the door and a creaking sound. _

_Probably the springs in the mattress she dumped herself on, __his conscience told him. _

_I should probably go up, shouldn't I?__ Fiyero asked his conscience. _

_No kidding, the woman you love, loves you back. GO. TELL. HER. NOW. _

_He didn't need to be told twice._

_**XoxoX**_

"_Elphaba, open the door please?" Fiyero pleaded with Elphaba through the door. Knocking on the door. _

"_Fiyero, Go away," he heard the sniffled reply._

"_Fae, please," he pleaded with her again. He heard the shuffling of feet, but the door didn't open. _

"_Go away," he heard her through the door, but this time she seemed closer than before, "please."_

"_Fae, don't lock me out. Please," he tried a different tactic, "I love you."_

_He heard her suck in a breath and the lock on the door's lock clicked open. The gap between the door and its frame became wider until he finally saw Elphaba looking tear-stained and defenceless, a slight he would have never expected to see, "Do you mean that?" she whispered, nearly inaudible. _

"_Yes, I love you," and he closed the small gap between their lips. She responded eagerly and wrapped her arms around his neck. He picked her up by her thighs and she wrapped her legs around his waist responsively, he carried her to the bed and gently laid her down and started kissing her neck. She moaned and clenched his hair in response to what he was doing to her. His fingers fumbled with the small buttons on her shirt and silently cursed that this was her dress shirt._

_She smiled, "What's wrong?"_

"_I silently crused my damned company that this..." he gestured to her shirt that was already half undone, "is the shirt my company makes you wear to work. It's completely inconvenient when you want to make love to the woman wearing said shirt." He started rambling on about the shirt and Elphaba rolled her eyes. _

"_Fiyero," Elphaba said looking into his eyes._

"_Hmmm?" he asked looking directly into those deep, dark, chocolate eyes._

"_Shut up," and she kissed him as she undid the buttons on his shirt. She slid the shirt off his back and she kissed the blue diamonds on his chest._

"_Fae," he groaned._

"_Hmmm?" she asked as she continued kissing the diamonds._

"_Nothing." He removed the shirt that clung to her body and threw it across the room. His fingers danced their way down to her bra clasp and unfastened the hooks. She moaned at the feel of his fingers on her bare skin. _

"_Fiyero," she moaned, "I love you," she exclaimed, punctuating 'I love you' with a kiss._

"_I know," his hand made their way down to the zip of her skirt and he tugged it down until it was fully off, next he slid her underwear off and she left completely naked in front of him. She expected him to stop at the last moment and pull away, but he didn't and all she saw was complete lust and desire in his eyes. I can read you like a book. _

"_You are so beautiful," he murmured in her ear and found a particularly sensitive spot behind her earlobe. _

_She moaned, _"_You don't have to lie to me, you know," looking away from him._

_He cupped her face and looked into her dark chocolate eyes, "It's not lying..." she turned away, but he moved her head to face his again, "it's looking at things another way. I love you, my precious Fae. I would never lie to you."_

"_I believe you. I love you too."_

_Her fingers loosened the buckle on his belt and slid his trousers off. Soon his undershorts were in the pile of discarded clothes and he kissed his way down to her stomach and down to her inner thigh. Her back arched and wondered how people received this much pleasure and remained sane. He kissed his way back up her body, sucking on her collarbone, right breast and left breast and she let out a cry of absolute bliss and rapture and back up to her lips. Her hands slid down his back and her fingers dug into his skin and created small red welts. He kissed his way down her throat and she giggled. Elphaba Thropp actually giggled. He kissed her lips again, which she responded eagerly to. _

"_You better tell me if you want to stop," he whispered into her ear and his lips returned to her lips._

"_No, I trust you," he whispered against his own lips. _

"_Are you sure? Because I won't be able to stop if I start."_

"_Good," she kissed him again, "because I don't want you to stop."_

_He lowered his weight onto her and slid into her._

_They moved together, like blue diamonds on a green field. Her fingernails dug into his back again and she moaned in complete ecstasy. She soon reached her desired point of pleasure and let out a languid moan._

_There were no barriers between them anymore. No walls. No barricades. No obstacles and no obstructions. They finished together they flopped back down under the sheets and he draped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. _

"_Don't you have a meeting tomorrow morning?" she mumbled sleepily into his chest._

_He chuckled and kissed her forehead, "Yes, but it's at one in the afternoon."_

_She mumbled something incoherent and snuggled closer to him._

_He tightened his hold on her waist and kissed her forehead._

"_I love you, my precious Fae," he mumbled into her black ebony tresses._

"_I love you to, my sweet."_

_Even after an exhausting love making he still was in the mood for humour, "I heard over and over again."_

"_Shut up," she muttered and looked up to his eyes again. Seeing absolute love and desire. _

"_Go to sleep, I'll be here when you wake up," he kissed her hair as she drifted off to unconsciousness._

"_Really?" she asked as her eyes fluttered close._

"_Always, my precious Fae," but she was already asleep, so she never heard. He kissed his universe's temple once again and drifted off with her._

_As the young couple slept, nothing in Oz could tear them apart. Absolutely nothing._

_**Flashback Over **_

"Elphaba, Elphaba!" One of the interns was shaking her.

"Hmmm?" Elphaba's head snapped back out of her reverie and back to reality.

"You had a strange look cross your face...like you were thinking."

"Um...yeah I'm fine," Elphaba hurriedly stood up in the chair and moved away from the congregation of people around the desk.

"What's the matter with her?" one asked.

_Nothing, _Elphaba thought; her thoughts were dripping with sarcasm, _life's absolutely peachy. _

_Expect for the fact that you remembered every single little detail about the first time your ex-lover made love to you._

_What's the problem with that?_

_Everything, _her conscience answered for her.

* * *

**So Fiyero does have a conscience. I aoplogise if he and Elphaba seemed bi-polar. That is the first and the last high T-ish scene I write. Ever. They are so awkward. Sorry about the long wait I had rehearsal to do as well as about a million practise performances. I promise to update sooner. I'm also going on holidays soon. So I won't be able to update. Apologises profusely. **


	3. Chapter 3: Rememberance

****

Disclaimer: La, La, La, La, I'm gonna be POP-U-LAR...wouldn't I already be popular if I owned Wicked?

**A/N: New chappie, please enjoyify it. Sorry for the delay, I was focusing on Defying All Odds and my computer decided to delete the story files from my hard drive. Thank you for all the lovely reviews. Sorry if my Oz is a bit backwards, but the point of the carriage will be used at the end of the story. Filler chapter. Sorry. The summary won't apply until chapter 7. **

* * *

**Chapter 3**

Elphaba's carriage pulled up at a small house, one of the few left in The Emerald City before all the skyscrapers were built and demolished all the little townhouses. Over the many years as the Emerald City grew with population, so did the amount of skyscrapers and taller building instead of small houses that The Emerald City used to have and slowly the amount of greenery became smaller and smaller, until the only natural green left was from a small park situated in the centre of The Emerald City.

Her carriage halted to a stop, carefully stepping out of the carriage; making sure she didn't fall because stilettos are not the best shoes to be wearing when walking. Tipping the driver more than necessary, he tipped his hat at her as a show of politeness and thanks. With a flick of his wrist the carriage and the horses faded into the distance along the road.

Stepping carefully along the concrete path, Elphaba tried with all her skill to avoid the cracks and dents in the path to avoid tripping along the pathway of her own home. The house was a small one; one of those over-clichéd white, multi panelled wood houses with the white picket fence, with flowerbeds, in this case poppies, lining the pathway to the door. The path separating the front yard into two; the house was the definition of symmetry. Two of the exact same windows lined the two front halves of the house. A small flight of concrete steps connected to the path to allowed access to the door.

Jamming the key into the lock; fumbling with it until she heard the clicking noise of the door. The door gave a slight squeak and Elphaba made a mental note to oil it during the weekend. Hanging her black, shapeless coat up on the hook, she dropped her keys onto the small table and went to the kitchen to prepare herself a little snack.

_Six hours of not eating can really do you in. _

Fixing herself a caramel and hazelnut coffee and small toasted bagel. She sat at the small wooden table. Munching away at her bagel and quietly sipping her coffee her thought process was interrupted by a rich, guttural cry from the bedroom upstairs as well as an ear splitting moan. Elphaba put the hot, steaming coffee on the grey-black granite bench, before ascending up the stairs. The source of the cries and moaning came from..._Glinda's Room? _Elphaba proceeded with caution as she stepped vigilantly towards her best friend's room.

Pressing her ear against the door she heard Glinda's scream of ecstasy as she...

_Oh God, I'm interrupting her making love to someone. That's not good._

_You think?_

_What I'm not an expert on these things._

_Oh well Fae, it was just like the time..._

_**Flashback**_

_**Four and A Half Years Ago**_

_Absolute bliss was the only thing going through Elphaba's mind as she woke up. Blinking her eyes a couple of times before collecting a bearing for her surroundings. She was quite content with staying in Fiyero's arms for the rest of the day, her heart told her to do so, but that small little voice in the base of her brain, kept telling her that she needed to wake him up for his meeting soon. Sighing in annoyance that her head had convinced her to wake up Fiyero._

"_Yero," Elphaba whispered, still induced in a half asleep state, "wake up." Lightly pressing a kiss to his shoulder in the process._

"_Five more minutes," he moaned, not opening his eyes. Elphaba had a smile plastered on her face from his reluctance to get up, __he's just plain adorable. _

"_Yero, wake up, you have a meeting you need to get to," sitting up on her knees beside him; shaking him slightly in an attempt to wake him._

"_What meeting?" and he mumbled something else that was unfathomable to Elphaba. She gave out a small, sweet chuckle, before trying to wake him again._

"_Yero, please wake up."_

"_No."_

"_Please," she pleaded with a sugar coated fluff voice that was only reserved for him added with the puppy dog pout that he wouldn't have able to see._

"_No." Pulling the covers over his chest._

_She tried a new approach, "fine then, if you don't want to get out of bed, you'll miss all the fun I plan on having in the shower __without__ you," she emphasised the 'without' to get her point across. _

_His eyes bolted opened this time and he was met by the playful smirk Elphaba had stuck on her face. He pulled her down closer to him; kissing her forehead in the process._

"_Good morning," Elphaba remarked whilst looking into his azure eyes._

"_Morning, Fae, you said something about the shower?"_

_She rolled her eyes; __Of course he'd remember the shower.__ "That was supposed to get you awake and out of bed. It doesn't seem to be working though."_

"_Fae, the only reason I'm in bed in because you're in bed. If anyone's to blame it's no," tapping her nose in an affectionate yet playful fashion._

"_If that will get you out of bed..."_

_He shook his head, most ardently, "Oh no, you are not getting out of this bed until I say so."_

"_Yero, you have a meeting in..." Elphaba checked the beside clock, leaning over him in the process, so he got a very good view. Not that he was complaining or anything, "Oh, fuck, we're late."_

"_What's the time?"_

"_ten past ten."_

"_Oh, shit," pulling the blankets off and picked up the discarded clothing from last night. He started pulling on his clothes before realising Elphaba was still in bed. He clasped his belt buckle together before moving towards the bed. _

"_Fae?" he asked with uncertainty evident in his words._

"_Yes Yero?" she asked softly and with an enormous amount of tenderness in her words._

"_Are you okay?"_

"_Hmm?" she looked deeper into his eyes, if that was possible. He saw love, devotion, lust, desire and a hint of confusion. _

"_I didn't hurt you last night did I?" he asked the worry in his voice was enough to make her heart melt, if she wasn't so...Elphaba. _

"_What? Oh, no," she reaffirmed with him, "I actually found it quite enjoyable."_

"_That's good because we don't have to make love again if you don't want to."_

_Elphaba was pleasantly surprised with the ease he said the word 'make love'._

"_No it's not that, it's just..."_

"_Just what, Fae?" the look of confusion on his face was just adorable. She traced his jaw line with her index finger. He brought his lips down on hers, kissing her with all his heart and soul; like the world was ending. She ignited passion in him he never thought he had; his life had a new meaning. A new reason to live, it was all for her. All for his precious, sweet, beautifully Fae. He caressed her mouth with his own, making every kiss deeper than the last; unknown to him that she was clutching his hair and was on the verge of moaning again. She tried to suppress her moan, but it was too much to bear. She let out a gluttonous moan against his lips. Smiling; satisfied that he had achieved his goal. She fingers were now on his neck and he moved his lips from hers and found that sensitive spot behind her ear that he'd discovered last night. _

_She let out another insatiable moan before parting her lips for him. Surprising to him, but he wasn't complaining. He slipped his tongue into her mouth and tenderly explored her soft mouth. Elphaba's hands went to unclasp his belt, but before her hands could actually touch anything, she was interrupted by the squealing of a perky blonde. _

"_Elphie!" Glinda's squeal rang throughout the house, "I'm home! Elphie?"_

_Elphaba pulled away from Fiyero, "Glinda has the worst timing ever. Oh shit. We're going to be late," rubbing her temples with her fingers as she looked at the clock, half past ten. She sat upright in the bed making the sheet that covered her up fall precariously low._

_Fiyero made a sound at the back of his throat, blinking more than necessary and swiftly the door looked a lot more attractive. _

_Elphaba jumped back in the bed, causing her head and the headboard to meet, "Ow!" she massaged her head until the pain subsided, she looked up to see Fiyero looking at her with complete lust. She thought she saw a little drool come out of his mouth. She leaned forward towards him, giving him a sweet, quick kiss before getting out of bed and putting her clothes on. _

_He thought it was part of his imagination that she was putting on her clothes tantalisingly slow, just to aggravate him. She smiled at him and slid her underwear on. She tried to find her bra, which was obscenely placed behind the lamp on the other side of the room. She looked amused for a moment then she hooked the clasps together. Buttoning up her white shirt; now wrinkled from the ferocity of last night. Her legs still ached in between, but it was worth it. __So very worth it,__ she added as an afterthought. She crawled under the bed to retrieve her black pencil line skirt, pulling it up to her waist and asking him to zip the zipper up for her. He did, just very slowly. She arched her back away from him and let out another moan as he let his hands roam around her waist, hips and the sides of her body. She twisted in his arms, so she was now facing him. She ran a few fingers through his silky, dark brown locks, gasping when he asked kissing her throat and the base of her neck. _

"_I—" she was cut off by Glinda's entry into the room. _

"_Elphie?" she asked perplexed about the image in front of her. _

"_Hi Glinda," Elphaba said clearly amused at the expression her friend was giving her. _

"_Did I come at a bad time?"_

"_Well, considering I'm half dressed, Glin I'd say so," Fiyero replied with a tinkle of amusement in his eyes. _

"_Um, Elphaba can I talk to you for a second?" Glinda asked her voice was serious. Something Elphaba didn't think was possible._

"_Sure," Elphaba replied optimistically. Her mood was too good to be ruined now. _

_**XoxoX**_

"_What do you think you're doing Elphaba?" Glinda reprimanded when they were in the downstairs hallway._

"_What no more 'Elphie'?" Elphaba said with a facade of mock hurt on and a hint of sarcasm lacing her words. _

"_Elphaba? This is no joke. I said I'd get you an interview because I knew you were desperate. I didn't think you'd be that desperate."_

_Elphaba cocked her head to the left, "What do you mean?"_

"_You just slept with him, for a job?"_

"_Oh, that," the realisation dawning over Elphaba, "It's nothing to worry about. My virginity was wasted anyway." Elphaba added jokingly. _

"_Yes, 'it's nothing to worry about' my ass. Elphaba your virginity is nothing to joke about."_

"_Glin, it's okay, you don't need to go all, super mama on me. I'm perfectly fine."_

"_Are you sure?" her words were full of mother affection and worry._

"_I'm fine."_

"_Okay, if you say so." But the look on Glinda's face contradicted her words. _

"_Glin, listen to me. I'm not sleeping with Fiyero for this job. He told me that he hired me because of Nessa. He wants to help me out and he loves me."_

_Glinda just stood there gaping at her friend's last statement, "He said what?" Glinda's words just spilled out of her mouth before they were meant to._

_Elphaba, taken aback, but her friend's behaviour and answered Glinda's inquisitive nature, "He said he loves me."_

"_I need to have a talk with him," Glinda said marching up the flight of stairs, making her look like minute blonde general._

"_Glinda!" Elphaba called after her a few stairs up, "Be gentle."_

"_Sure Elphaba, whatever you want."_

_Elphaba rolled her eyes. __This isn't going to be pretty._

_**XoxoX**_

"_Prince Fiyero Tiggular of the Vinkus, you have some explaining to do," Glinda said from the doorframe, making Fiyero jump._

"_Don't do that," Fiyero said still in a state of shock, "even as kids you were jumping out from shadows. Literally."_

"_Yes, well Fiyero I must know what you are doing to Elphie." _

"_What do you mean?"_

"_She seems under the impression that you love her."_

"_But I do!" Fiyero defended, her found it extremely irate that Glinda could not grasp the concept that he loved Elphaba, even if he did have a rough past with women before. _

"_Fiyero are you sure that she's no one of those exotic women you hired and then threw onto the streets?" Glinda asked her voice was on the colder side of the scale, but Fiyero could understand, Glinda was still irritate and exasperated at him for their own breakup. He said it wasn't working and she had a hissy fit in front of the whole cafe. She went onto insult him and he walked out, annoyed at her for embarrassing him and herself like that._

"_I'm sure Glinda, Elphaba's different. I can imagine falling asleep next to her every night regardless if we've made love or not..." Fiyero went on to babble on about useless information about Elphaba, but what she took into account was the fact that he'd said 'make love' instead of 'sex' in a very unlike Fiyero move._

_He finally decided to conclude, "...And I love her. So you see Glinda I do love Elphaba and would never do anything to intentionally harm her." _

"_Okay, I believe you, but if you do anything to harm her..." she made a finger run along her neck in an attempt to threaten him, which didn't work very well, putting into retrospect that she was five foot one and he was five foot eight, she couldn't look very intimidating, "...I will personally find you myself and kill you."_

"_Okay, Glin, you go do that, I'm going to get Elphaba."_

_As he walked out of the room, Glinda's thought processes were going haywire, __as long as you know what you're getting yourself into._

_**XoxoX**_

_A few minutes later Glinda had left the house. She said she was going to the store to buy some bread. Elphaba wanted to roll her eyes at the prospect. It was a blatant lie; the household had two full, fresh loaves of bread on the kitchen bench. But it didn't matter to her that Glinda had decided to leave. All she wanted was some alone time with Fiyero before work. _

"_Yero, we should be going soon, it's ten last eleven."_

_He kissed her forehead tenderly letting his lips linger for a fraction of a second longer, "We have another hour."_

"_But it will take us another hour just to get out of bed."_

"_I know, but what would you rather do? Stay in bed with me or go to work?"_

"_Hmm?" she tapped her chin with some thought involved, until finally concluding, "Get out of bed."_

"_What?"_

"_I said get out of bed. Didn't you understand me? Would you like me to articulate?"_

"_Fine then," he said, hurt that she would choose work over him. He grumbled to himself something like, 'that's the disadvantage of having your assistant as also your lover'. Just as he was going to hit the showers her felt a piece of cloth hit his back. He picked it up, it was her skirt. Whipping his head around to see have a mischievous glint in her eyes and peeking above the covers, only her eyes, above and the bridge of her nose were visible. He his approach was cautioned and Elphaba's head ducked back under the covers. He counted the items of clothing that were coming his way. Her shirt hit him in the chest as well as her bra and the final piece of clothing, her black, lace underwear hit him in the face. _

_His male brain tried to figure out what was happening. __That leaves a very naked Elphaba under the covers. 'I love you unnamed god,'__ he felt like reciting to the heavens._

"_Yero," she said as she did an impression of a seductive woman and he swear he could hear her purring, "are you let me have all the fun?"_

_He didn't need to be told twice._

_**XoxoX**_

_Later that day when they both came to work, Fiyero's shareholders were waiting for him for their one o'clock meeting. It was half past three when they arrived, all the shareholders were mad and infuriated at him for being late, but they both declared it was worth it. _

_**Flashback Over**_

Elphaba felt a tear slip from her eye, but as soon as it came, she wiped it away. Leaning against the door, she accidentally felt her weight shift and toppled into the room. Where she saw a blonde head followed by another blonde head bobble up from their place under the blankets before.

"Elphie?" Glinda asked, pulling up the blankets to her torso.

With a sigh of relief the door bell rang, "I'll get that. Sorry for the interruption." _Anything to get away from there. _

Scurrying down the stairs so fast she nearly tripped, but kept the balance of her feet and made herself look presentable, opening the door.

"Nessie!" Elphaba said with joy, "What a pleasant surprise. You're not meant to be home until tomorrow." Nessa had been travelling with a group of artists, singers, songwriters, sculptors and many more for an art fair that was travelling around Oz. Only the best of the best got accepted and Nessa was one of them. They had sent a letter to their father informing him of the news. He congratulated Nessa and approved of her work.

"I know, Fabala, but I have such joyous new," Nessa said gleaming with excitement and happiness as Elphaba pushed her wheelchair in the house. Her sister was pretty, she had hair the colour of colour honey and they were cut in a straight cut at the shoulders, Nessa was always seen with her customary pink head band and pale blue dress on that matched her eyes perfectly, but doomed to be bound in a wheelchair for the rest of her life. It mad people turn away from her. The Thropp sisters were a funny bunch, both had their own quirks and imperfections, but many people still loved them.

"What news Nessa?"

"I met someone over the course of the art trip. His name's Boq Riddle and he comes from Munchkinland like us and over the duration of the spring part of the trip in Munchkinland, we got to know each other and we..." Nessa's pale face turned a rosy tinge, "...and we fell in love. Oh Fabala please tell me you're happy for me please." Turning to her sister for comfort, Elphaba say the love and joy in her sister's eyes.

"Oh Nessa, I couldn't be happier for you."

"Really, Fabala?"

"Yes, Nessa, you deserve to be happy."

"Hey Nessa, would you mind getting someone to help me with all the bags."

"Oh that's him, my dear Boq," Nessa said with an adoring look in her eye.

"I'll help him," Elphaba left the living room and headed towards the doorway to help this 'Boq' of her sisters.

"Hi Boq, I'm Elphaba. Nessa's sister. I would shake your hand, but they seem a bit preoccupied."

"Oh yes," he peeped over his pile of boxes. Elphaba saw he had shaggy brownish caramel hair, that was tinted with blonde, dark emerald green eyes like her skin and he was pale and even shorter than a normal Munchkin normally is.

"Nessa's in the living room, take the hall, third door to your right. Thanks, Elphaba."

Boq left in a hurry. _Probably to get to Nessa_. Elphaba had seen the adoring look in his eyes, the same one as Nessa's. Elphaba sighed, _if only. You did have someone once._

_Once upon a time. Fairytales don't come true. Not for green-skinned people though. _

"Elphie!" Glinda said rushing down the stairs, pulling her best friend into a tight hug, "I'm so sorry you had to see that between Avaric and me."

"And I Glinda, Avaric and I. Not me."

"Oh tush," Glinda said waving it off, as if it were nothing.

Elphaba let out a short laugh, "Come on, let's go meet Nessa's new boyfriend."

"Nessa has a boyfriend?" Glinda asked with a bemused expression crossing her face.

**XoxoX**

"Oh, Elphaba isn't it wonderful?"

"Of course, Nessie, I'm so happy for you both," But she couldn't help, but feel a hole in the pit of her stomach.

"Of course it is, Nessa," Glinda said, smiling happily for the new couple, "And Boq it'll be interesting to see how long you can stay in this household without running."

"Oh, don't worry, I don't plan on leaving Nessa anytime soon," he said with another adoring look in his eyes as he kissed Nessa's temple.

Something inside Elphaba flared up. She didn't know what it was, but it was a strong emotion. One she had never encountered before...jealously. Over her sister. It seemed so clichéd, but in her heart she had always known she had been jealous from the very beginning. Her heart ached for _him_ again. For him to tell her everything would be okay, to kiss her temple and make gentle, sweet love to her that it shattered all her senses, but when she needed him most, he abandoned her. He left her to deal with their problem that he'd started.

"Elphaba are you okay?" Nessa asked tenderly towards her sister.

"Yes, I'm fine and as long you and Boq don't get caught in any compromising positions by me. I'll be able to live a long and prosperous life."

Laughter rang throughout the room.

"Don't worry Elphaba, Nessa and I believe in sex after marriage."

A thought occurred to Elphaba, _was Fiyero the only one who used making love instead of sex? Because many of the men and women I know, use 'sex' instead of 'making love' and Fiyero seemed to be the exception to that rule. _

"Okay, just make sure you don't get caught, like Elphaba did with Avaric and I earlier today," Glinda said light heartedly nudging Avaric in the ribs.

"Well, I'm pretty sure you had your fair share of seeing _compromising _positions between Fiyero and I," Elphaba in relation to her friend's comment.

Glinda was taken aback by her friend's easy use of her past relationship, "Are you okay Elphaba?" she asked the light hearted banter gone from her persona.

"I couldn't be happier."

But everyone in the room was not fooled, even Boq who'd only know Elphaba for a few hours. Everyone knows in her heart that she's deeply upset and heartbroken about the break up and something else, that they are forbidden to mention.

* * *

**I just got to the point where I wanted to end it. Sorry if it seemed rushed. I'm meant to be asleep because my bedtime is nine thirty and it's ten thirty at the moment. Unedited, because I need sleep.**

**Larri**

**Smiles**

**x **


	4. Chapter 4: From The Heart

**Disclaimer: Nup...Nada...Ni...Nil...Nix **

**A/N: Gah, I'm so sorry for the lack of update. My internet died and so did my email. Thanks for all the reviews. So sorry for the wait. Okay this might be the last update in a while, Defying All Odds is nearly done and when finished this will become my priority. Filler-ish and super long. **

**Hedwig, it did speed up, sorry if confused you.**

**Enjoy. **

* * *

**Chapter 4**

The sun poured through the open window in Elphaba's room. She had always liked the curtains opened during the night, so she could stare into the moon during the harsh winter nights. The moon would provide her with comfort when he wasn't there. The shimmering silver light of the moon, would enter the window gently every night, Elphaba would stare out at the night sky for hours on end, before the gentle, sweet sound of sleep called to her.

Pulling herself from the comfort and warmth of her bed she trudged unwillingly towards the kitchen. Pulling out packets of instant coffee and dumping them brusquely into the white ceramic mug, while stirring the boiling water in, adding no sugar in. It had become a habit of Elphaba's to have no sugar in her coffee since Fiyero and she broke up. She just figured the coffee didn't need sugar; it was fine as it is. She also stopped having syrups in her coffee as well; they were too sweet for her tastes and reminded her of _him _too much.

Heading over to the small table, she dumped her herself on the small stool. Reaching to grab her reading glasses and read the morning paper. There wasn't much in the kitchen; just the essentials, a stove pushed into one corner, a bench wedged against the refrigerator and sink. Everything was in a straight line, apparently the previous owners of the house liked straight lines and symmetry, as did Nessa and Glinda, while Elphaba protested at the very idea. Above the sink was a small window that provided the only natural light for the room. The walls were painted haphazardly with a dusky blue, which made the room seem more depressing than it actually was.

"Good morning!" Nessa said chirpily from the kitchen door, wheeling herself on the peeling, checker black and white laminate, they called the kitchen floor.

"Morning," Elphaba grumbled while sipping her coffee and reading the paper at the same time.

_So much for a good morning, _Nessa though, weaving herself through the kitchen, until she was next to Elphaba.

"Fabala," Nessa said with a slight reprimanding tone to her voice, "you do know what time it is, right?"

"Yes," she replied curtly, never taking her eyes off the paper, "that is precisely why I am up."

"Fabala," Nessa repeated, "It's five in the morning. Go back to bed."

Elphaba harrumphed giving her signature eye roll as well, "Why are you questioning me, when you are up at the same time as I?"

"Touché."

"Thank you, but I must get ready for work or I'll get skinned alive, I highly doubt Fiyero wants cold coffee for breakfast," Standing to get up, as Nessa pulled her back.

"Elphaba, you start work at nine, as you have for the last five years. It's five."

"I..."

Nessa narrowed her eyes, "Elphaba," she said warningly, "Tell me what's going on." It wasn't a request or even a question. It was a demand.

"I want to check out a few before going to work," Elphaba lied smoothly and it seemed to be working because Nessa was buying the pretentious bullshit Elphaba was feeding her.

Nessa looked at her sister to try and detect if she was lying. As far as she could tell she wasn't, but Nessa wasn't the best lie detector, she was what they would call...challenged at the art of lie detecting, unlike their father.

"Sure, Fabala," drawing out the sure more than necessary, then changing her tone to her once again, chirpy, peppy self, "Have a nice day!" she said before wheeling herself away.

_I wish. _Elphaba thought the usual sarcasm in her thoughts.

**XoxoX**

Dressing in a white, button up blouse and tight fitting black pants with black peep-toe flats. She walked to the kerb of the street, where the traffic lights met the intersection. The wafting of car exhaust fumes tickled her nose, as well as the dry taste of it when she inhaled. The honking of horns and the ever-so pleasant sound of screaming drivers telling others to get a move along greeted Elphaba while she waited for the light to show the symbol of the green man walking, Elphaba contemplated everything that had happened in her life recently.

_I lost the man I love to some stupid insignificant little thing that doesn't matter anymore, all my friends are spreading their wings and flying off without me and I seem to think of myself as always being alone. When will it end? More like will it __ever__ end? _But before an answer came the 'ding' of the traffic light signalled her to cross.

Stepping with caution before taking the next road, but checking her watch to see how much time she had left. She had taken Nessa's advice and waited another two hours before heading off to work, that had left her three hours to get there. By carriage it took about half an hour, walking though took about an hour. Elphaba had been meaning to take a walk recently, but the thought slipped her mind as her workload grew and her free time shrunk. Now she had three hours to walk, but needed to get coffee for Fiyero before he decided that he would fire her.

It had become a regular routine since their break up, Elphaba would do the regular jobs she did before they became a couple, except this time there was no spontaneous kiss while she was working for the ever-so subtle touches on the shoulder, arm or other various places of her anatomy. She was expected to maintain her distance since their break up and many employees wondered why they were both being so distant to each other.

Many rumours speculated around the office building like wildfire, a secret love affair between the two, that one was true, although many didn't believe it. Fiyero seemed the type to never mix business with pleasure and Elphaba was just too antisocial to be seen with anyone outside of work. Others that circulated around were, an attempted assassination on one of Fiyero's business partners because they weren't agreeing with his moves in the stock market, whoever thought of that was seriously deranged because one, as tough and emotionless Fiyero seemed, he would never hurt anyone. Intentionally that is.

Elphaba wouldn't hurt a fly, let alone a Fly. She was sweet, even if she didn't show it often to anyone. They were both putting on façades for the sake of their images, if Fiyero appeared weak to his business partners the hierarchy would be able for corruption and they wouldn't see him fit to run the whole business. Even if he did own it. Even thought Elphaba could appear sweet if she wanted to she's rather have her tough girl persona on, rather than appearing weak to those weaker than her. She hated to show weakness, that was why she didn't like to cry, moan or complain, but that all changed after that one fateful summer afternoon.

Shaking the thoughts from her mind Elphaba took the long way to work, passing all the little boutiques as well as the small eateries from different provinces of Oz. Passing a small sign that said, 'Ozwald Street, 15 Miles' pointing in a North West direction, crossing with another sign that said, 'Wizard Avenue, 26 Miles'. Elphaba took the first sign, but making a small detour past—

She stopped in her tracks. The time and space around her seemed to melt from existence. Her surroundings oblivious, people barged past her, pushing her back and forth, but it didn't matter to her. A single strand of recognition pieced her heart. A site she hadn't seen in over a year stood right in front of her, unchanged from the seasons and unknown that she had been missing from the site. Elphaba inhaled a small gasp as she took in the site. _Their Coffee Shop. _Taking a deeper breath, Elphaba moved towards the site with shaky hands, trembling legs and feeling a pang of hurt in her heart from the unwanted memories that came flooding back with a single glance.

_**Flashback**_

_**5 Years Ago **_

_This can't be happening__, Elphaba thought as she raced to the office building, pulling her thick, hair up into a messy bun, while her feet pounded on the marble floors, her dark brown, leather shoulder bag flying in every direction possible. __This is not happening,__ Elphaba cursed under her breath. She was late; for her first day of work._

_She internally cursed Glinda for making her put make up on. Currently she was wearing cherry red lip gloss with a slight pink blush, complemented with the light brown eye shadow. Despite all of Elphaba's protests Glinda always would win the waging war when it came to makeup and clothes. She also silently cursed the 'Oz-damned shoes'. They were glossy, synthetic black leather, with a heel that could be used as a potential weapon. They killed her feet. The shoes pinched her toes inwards and she wouldn't be surprised if they gave her blisters the next day. Elphaba made a mental note to invest in a pair of flats for work. Heels were a no-go zone. _

_Elphaba heard the people shuffling out of the elevator, making an attempt to get there before the doors shut. Although she did make it, it was too crowded for her to enter. She cursed once again and waited for the next one. Sitting on the rectangular plant box that was covered in a dusty clay and filled with pink carnations and ferns. She waited for the next elevator to come. No looking where she was going, she collided with Fiyero. The papers he was holding flew around the elevator area like gentle snow drops in the Emerald City during winter._

_Elphaba clasped her hands over her mouth, before apologising profusely, "Oh my Oz, I'm so sorry," before bending over to start picking up the papers in a cluttered pile._

_He bent down to her level; taking her hands, pulling her up a flash of heat pulsed through both of them. Elphaba pulled her hand away as if she had just been burnt._

"_Elphaba, stop it. I could have done it myself."_

"_I know, I just feel bad about being late and now this—" she gestured her hands at random around the room._

_He gave her a small smile, "Well if it makes you feel any better, I was late this morning too."_

"_Slightly," she said giving him a small smile._

_He chuckled, pulling her up with him, the same flash of heat passed through them again, but he gave her small hand a reassuring squeeze before regrettably letting go, "Come on I have to give you the grand tour of this colossal giant I call an office."_

_She raised an incredulous eyebrow, "Colossal giant?"_

_He scratched the top of his head, slightly embarrassed, "When I was younger I wanted to make the, and I quote, 'tallest building ever'. So when I started my own company I went slightly crazy with the plans. My bad." he gave another small chuckle, while opening a door for her. She hadn't realised they were walking. She was too preoccupied with other thoughts. _

"_Slightly is an understatement, Fiyero," Elphaba said while walking up the steps, still clutching the papers in her hands. _

"_I guess it was, anyways, any questions about my company, building etcetera, etcetera," waving as if to signal that he wanted to say something._

"_Two," she replied as she turned to face him, "one, what do you actually do here at..." this time she gestured for him to speak._

"_Tiggular Books and Publishing, well we do two things. One, we are a chain of stores that sell books and magazines. That was obvious; the other thing we do is publish young authors out there that have not been discovered yet, we try to limit ourselves to at least one book or series her author because I know for a fact that some people get published that are terrible writers, but there's all that fresh talent that needs to be discovered."_

"_That's great, too bad I can't write to save my life."_

"_I'm sure you'll do fine. All you need to do is grab coffee and make photocopies. The occasional work on weekends and that's pretty much it."_

"_Second question, how many floors are in this building?"_

"_Fifty-three," he replied automatically._

"_So what's on the fifty-first floor?"_

"_My office with offices for my assistants, secretaries, receptionists, the conference room for the annual meeting for my CEOs with business partners, shareholders, etcetera. It's going to be held in six months time, so I have to start getting ready now."_

"_That's a lot, anyways, what do you want me to do with these papers?" Elphaba asked holding the multiples of paper. _

"_Um...I'll take you to the photocopying room, I want you to make at twenty copies of each. When you're done with that I'll take you to the fifty-first floor and we'll chat about what you need to do, where your office is, you know all that stuff."_

"_Right," even though Fiyero seemed like a good boss. Elphaba was under the impression that he didn't like ordering people around or telling them what to do._

_Fiyero lead Elphaba through a labyrinth of walkways and stairs before they arrived at the photocopying room. It was a small room situated on the twenty-second floor. It was painted in a charcoal grey with three photocopiers lining up the western wall with the window adjacent to it, giving a lovely view of the going on the Emerald City below. While learning to use the photocopier Elphaba and Fiyero to know each other._

"_What's your middle name?" He asked her._

"_Melena, yours?"_

"_Matthew, even though I never seem to think it goes with my name. Prince Fiyero Matthew Tiggular Of The Vinkus. Doesn't suit me, what do you think, Elphaba."_

_Elphaba's jaw dropped to the ground, her dark chocolate eyes were the size of golf balls, "You're a prince?" was the only question she managed to stutter out. _

"_Yes," at the expression on her face told him all he needed to know, "please don't share this information with anyone. I may be a prince, but I'd like to keep it a secret. If everyone knew..."_

_He didn't need to finish that sentence for Elphaba to get where he was getting at. If everyone found out they'd start treating him different, like he was more important; royalty and do every in hushed whispered because of fear of him. Not the best way to be boss. _

"_Your secret's safe with me, one question, why'd you tell me?"_

"_I trust you."_

"_But I've only known you for three days."_

_He gave a simple shrug of his shoulders, "Some of my employees I've known for years and I still don't trust them with important details like my share prices and what's my next step in the industry going to be because I know they'll sell that information to my competitors. You on the other hand," his delicate gaze at her suddenly turned into an intense stare and she felt very exposed in front of him, "I feel as if I can trust you with anything I would be able to tell my deepest darkest secrets to you and I __know__ that you wouldn't sell them."_

_It was a simple question, but she never expected such a meaningful answer to it, "Um...where do you want to go this Friday?" she asked trying to avoid those piercing azure eyes of his. _

_He stepped back and recomposed himself, "I'm not fussed, I'll figure it out. You don't have to worry about it, just met me here at seven."_

"_Got it, the photocopying done," Elphaba said spying the 'done' flashing on the screen._

"_Right, now I'll show you the rest of the building and your office. Let's get a move on," he said using hand motions indicating her to follow. _

_Elphaba pulled the papers from the photocopier and followed Fiyero out the door. _

_**XoxoX**_

"_What's your favourite colour?" he asked as they were in the elevator._

"_Purple, it's the only other colour that goes with green. Yours?"_

"_I'm partial to green and blue. Plus I can think of many other colours myself that go with green, blue for one, goes wonderfully."_

"_It's a bit if-y for my liking, I think purple and black."_

"_I personally think blue is wonderful. I would know."_

"_How would you know?" _

_He...blushed at the question, "When I was thirteen as a way to represent manhood and coming of age in the Vinkus, a boy has to go into the forest, with only a matchbox for a week and see how they survive. If they come back, they get the tattoos on their chest, if they don't well, we go find them. The royal family doesn't have to do it, but I chose to do it anyway," with a gleeful grin at the end._

"_Ah, a rebel I see," Elphaba said with a smile twitching at her lips._

"_Yeah, then my younger brother wanted to do it and when he was thirteen he did try to do it, but failed. He came back suffering severe hypothermia and frostbitten toes, but nothing needed to be amputated, thank goodness."_

"_So what happens when they fail?"_

"_They don't get the tattoos. They can try again, but most don't want to."_

"_I see," Elphaba said staring at the neckline of his shirt, trying to pry away the thoughts of Fiyero's diamond covered chest._

"_I'll show you some other time," he said, completely ignorant to the inner turmoil Elphaba was facing._

"_Right, so how many siblings do you have?" she asked._

"_Two. I have a sister called Marcella, she's currently at Shiz University, apparently it's good and a brother called Christopher, he's around your age."_

"_Shiz Uni? I went there, yeah it is good. Except for the headmistress. A fish face called Madame Morrible or Horrible Morrible."_

"_You went to Shiz?"_

"_Uh, yeah. I got a degree in Life Sciences and History."_

"_Then what are you doing here?"_

"_Working," she replied simply, "I needed a job and you gave me one."_

"_I see. So any other questions? I have a budget meeting in twenty minutes. Fun stuff."_

_Elphaba laughed at his attempted use of sarcasm, note the attempted, "Sounds invigorating."_

"_Yes, well, your office number is one hundred and forty three your password and user name could be on the screen, if not go into my office and find the file labelled 'Elphaba Thropp' it should be in there."_

'_Thanks."_

"_Anytime," he said walking away, as he was about to turn the corner he said, "I hope you have a lovely first day and I'll arrange everything for dinner!" giving her his biggest Glasgow smile._

_I think it's going to be a lovely day.__ Elphaba's after thoughts told her as she shuffled her feet into her new office._

_**Flashback Over**_

Elphaba's momentary lapse in judgement made her head towards the coffee shop. The main source of her problems at the moment. She turned sharply to the direction of Ozwald Street and continued walking. Trudging along unwillingly with her face parallel to the pavement, she left a wave of defeat and numerous other emotions wash over her as she silently moved towards the office building. Stopping at Ozbucks to get Fiyero's daily coffee and customary bagel, plus her own black coffee, she paid the server plus a tip and moved at the slow pace towards the Office.

Thoughts swirled around her mind as the bitter taste of coffee hit her unsuspecting tastebuds. Upon arrival to the office she pushed the two giant glass panes open with her shoulder and moved towards the elevators. Silently moving into an elevator, pushing the '51' button before continuing to sip her coffee.

Moving out of the elevator Elphaba moved down the hallway where she was met by the stares of the other women she was talking to about Fiyero's love life. They giggled as she passed, silently sharing a secret look with Elphaba, before moving on. This trend continued until she reached Fiyero's office to realise that he wasn't there.

_Odd, _Elphaba thought, _he's usually here by seven thirty._

Shrugging the thoughts from her mind, she placed the coffee and bagel on his desk before moving to the southern side of his office where about ten boxes were lined up. They were the boxes Fiyero had asked her to move yesterday. They were just full of files and manuscripts that needed to be filed and stored in the basement. Experimentally picking up a box to weigh it down. Elphaba discovered that it could be carried to the basement with any problems arising. She enclosed her hands under the bottom and pulled it up; making sure it was secure before walking. In the process she nearly rammed into Fiyero for what felt like the twenty billionth time in her life.

"Good morning Elphaba," he said chirpily unusually like Nessa this morning.

"Morning, sir," Elphaba said warily before moving away with the box.

"Hey Elphaba, you want any help?"

Taken aback by his odd mood this morning compared to the one of yesterday, "No...sir..." she stuttered out, "I'll be...fine." It was weak, but it seemed to work.

"Anything you want me to do to help?"

She twisted herself so that she faced him, "No thank you. You have a suit fitting at Ozmarni today at eleven, so I recommend that you get all your work done before that. Also next week you have the budget meeting, your advisors want you to make up a portfolio with all the expenses and stuff like that."

"Got it, also Elphaba, could you please accompany me to the Ozdust Ballroom Ball, I'm currently looking for someone to go with and I think I'll need your help with as well."

Elphaba's mind was going into overdrive. One moment she thought she had Fiyero all figured out, next BAM, he completely changes his views and ideas and shocks Elphaba, making her more confused than ever. She nearly dropped the box she was holding when she heard Fiyero's request. Thank goodness that she had a vice grip fixated on the bottom of the box, "Yes, sir. I'll try to find a dress suitable to wear. Maybe Glinda has something I could borrow."

"Or you could buy a new one today. I have enough money to buy you at least a hundred dresses."

"Oh no, sir, I couldn't," Elphaba insisted doing a little bend of her knees.

He held his hand up, "Elphaba, you have done nearly everything for me for the past five years, I insist on doing something nice for you for a change."

She had no rebuttal for that, so she just limply nodded her head before giving up with disagreeing with him anymore. Sighing Elphaba took the box with her down to the basement and started to sort out the manuscripts and papers that were shoved carelessly into the box.

An hour later Elphaba headed back up his office and continued to move the boxes and sort out the manuscripts and papers. Sorting them into alphabetical order and storing it into the filing system she created four years ago. Moving the manuscripts to the western side of the basement, the papers on budges to the southern wall and the papers on meetings and employee files to the eastern side. When the time reached fifteen past ten Elphaba moved back up to Fiyero's office to tell him to get ready for his suit fitting. Moving towards his office, she knocked softly once on the wooden Quoxwood door and entered. Fiyero didn't notice her enter, his eyebrows were pinched together, a sure sign that he was in deep concentration, he tapped his silver pen that she'd given him on his birthday three years ago.

_**Flashback**_

_**3 Years and 9 Months Ago**_

"_Yero, what do you want for your birthday?" Elphaba asked between kisses as he laid her down on the soft bed. His birthday was coming up and even though they'd been together for three years, she was still hopeless when it came to his birthday. _

"_Why would I want something when I have everything I could possibly want right now?" he replied while pressing his lips on her forehead, sliding his hands down the cotton of her button up shirt._

_She laughed and moaned at the same time, but then became serious once more, "I'm serious."_

"_Oh...I don't know, my birthday's not important." While tugging and pulling at the buttons on her shirt. _

"_It is to me, that is," she gasped. _

"_Well, I don't know, you're my witty, smart, charming, sarcastic, sexy and seductive assistant, you figure it out," he replied laughing at her irritated expression. _

"_You are so not getting any tonight," Elphaba said while re-buttoning her shirt, sliding herself into the covers and pulling them over herself._

_He pouted, "Not fair, Fae." _

"_Hey!" she said, while turning to him, "just because you're not getting it, doesn't give you the right act all innocent."_

"_Fine then, goodnight," he said and rolled to face the other side._

_The dead silence became overbearing for both of them._

"_Yero," Elphaba said from the other side of the bed._

"_What?"_

"_You do know I have to have a shower right?"_

"_Why didn't you tell me that earlier?" he cried out in exasperation._

"_To torture you."_

"_I suddenly feel the need to have a shower, what about you Fae?" he asked although it was more rhetorical than serious. He jumped from the bed and stood in front of her still form. _

_Yes, on one condition though," Elphaba said as she slide out from under the quilt covers._

"_What?"_

"_Give me a clue for what you want for your birthday," she said. Wrapping her arms around his waist, looking into his azure orbs. _

"_Something from the heart," he replied softly while kissing her hair. _

_**XoxoX**_

"_Happy birthday, Yero," Elphaba said presenting him with a rectangular box covered in a dull silver paper with a black ribbon tied around it._

_He looked up from his desk, his black, metal rimmed glasses preening his look; his glasses were stuck in the divot in his nose. He pushed them back up and gave her a incredulous look._

"_My birthday's not till tomorrow, you know that."_

"_Details, details," she said waving him off._

"_So what has inspired you to give me this present?"_

"_Well, I was just working today and I noticed something very odd about your office."_

"_What? How messy it is because of our last little indiscretion?"_

_Her cheeks flushed at the implication and he gave her a sly grin, "No something else. You really need to clean your office by the way, I finally found my bra."_

"_I thought you already did, that was the __other__ bra I lost. I still got to find my underwear though, but we're getting side tracked. Anyway I was in your office and I thought about getting you something else, but I decided to get you this instead. I hope you like it."_

_She moved towards his desk and sat on the edge, with her feet dangling over. She placed the present in front of him. She grabbed the box and started untying the ribbon, pulling at the paper; it revealed a long rectangular, black leather box. Fiyero looked at Elphaba with furrowed eyebrows. Elphaba just gestured for him to continue to open the box. He did. He was amazed at what he saw. It was a pen; just a plain silver pen with engraved into it, 'Happy Birthday, From the Heart, Fae'. As boring as it might seem it was something Fiyero really needed, he was constantly using Elphaba's and his own pens were missing, but it wasn't the gift that he received that made it special, it was what was engraved onto the surface. _

_Worried at his silence, Elphaba began to wring her fingers together._

"_Elphaba," Fiyero said after many long heartbeats of silence, "Thanks for the present." _

"_You're welcome," Elphaba said as she sat on the armrest on his chair and kissed him on the cheek. Fiyero looked at her for a second before tugging her arm making her fall onto his lap._

"_Oh My Oz!" she exclaimed in surprise, "What are you doing?"_

"_Kissing you properly because let's be quite honest, that doesn't even constitute as a proper kiss," he said before pressing his lips to hers, "I love you. Thank you for everything."_

"_You're welcome," she whispered millimetres from his lips._

_**Flashback Over **_

"Elphaba," Fiyero said taking her out of her reverie.

"Uh?"

"You're meant to take me to Ozmarni and I'm meant to help you find a dress."

"Oh right," Elphaba said, "I did knock."

"I heard," he chuckled he stretched his arms outwards, "ladies first."

**XoxoX**

"And remember price is not an issue," Fiyero reminded her for the billionth time in the car. They were currently getting chauffeured to the Emerald City's Ozmarni and Fiyero was just telling her that she could get a dress anywhere she wanted. That price wasn't an issue and he told her to go crazy for all he cared.

"I know, I'd rather you spend your money on something important though."

He looked into her chocolate brown eyes, "You are important."

Dead silence filled the car with apprehension.

When the car came to a halt in front of the shopping district in the Emerald City, Elphaba moved out of the car, while Fiyero told the driver to come and pick them up when he called. Elphaba started walking and Fiyero caught up to her. Talking about work and what's been happening in their lives, but the one topic they needed to talk about but didn't was their break up.

Arriving at Ozmarni, Elphaba went up to the receptionist, who eyed her with jealousy. Elphaba could guess why though. Elphaba just asked her to get the person in charge and she regretfully did. The receptionist still eyed Elphaba she walked off. Elphaba sighed and she made herself comfortable on one of the small chairs in the shop. Fiyero was looking at the suits on display and one the racks, but as the person came with the tape measure, Elphaba gaped. It was Avaric.

"Avaric, what are you doing here?" Elphaba asked with the aftershocks still fresh in her mind.

"I work here, more or less I own it," he replied, "now where is Fiyero?"

"He's looking at suits, but I though you worked at—"

"The Computing Place?"

Elphaba was speechless, so she just nodded.

"I did, but I got bored of it. I needed a career change. There was an opening here for a new business owner, so I took it. I guess you didn't expect it," Avaric scratched the stop of his head.

"No, what does Glinda say about it?"

"She loves it, the fact that I'm working in fashion is," he cleared his throat, "'So brilliatifyed!'" His voice went an octave higher as he was imitating Glinda.

"Yes, I'll get Fiyero," Elphaba said, as a voice interrupted her.

"Here and ready ma'am."

"Fiyero," Avaric said approaching him and extending his arm out, which Fiyero took, "I'm Avaric, I'll be measuring you for your suit today."

"Excellent!" Fiyero said with glee, "Elphaba needs to find a dress."

"Oh that will be easy. Shelia!" Avaric barked.

"Yes, sir?" the girl from the reception who stared at Elphaba said.

"Help, Miss Elphaba find a dress. Preferably black."

"Yes, sir," she grumbled in reply.

Shelia led Elphaba to a rack of dresses and left her there as she went back to Avaric, _to see Fiyero's measuring probably_. Elphaba thought dismally, _not that I care at all. _She internally reprimanded herself for getting jealous and upset because of the facts.

After twenty minutes of looking Elphaba almost gave up on looking. All the dresses were either, a) too short for her liking or b) too colourful that it made her dizzy to look at. Elphaba slumped herself in a chair near the dress rack, until she saw it. Towards the back of the rack was a black, floor length dress. She pulled it out from the back and further inspected it. Brushing the dust away from the dress, Elphaba discovered that it was beaded with small black beads to make a swirl pattern along the bodice until the waist line, where the dress flared out slightly with a covering of small, light fishnet and black satin underneath. In other words the dress was breathtaking.

Elphaba moved towards the change room and tried the dress on. Swaying and inspecting how it looked on her, Elphaba moved to the measuring area, wanting Fiyero's opinion on it. She took a deep breath and stepped out of the changing room. Her feet taking her directly to the measuring room.

**XoxoX**

"So how long have you and Elphaba known each other?" Avaric asked Fiyero as he measured his bicep.

"Five years," Fiyero answered, "But I have a feeling you knew that."

"I do, just want to double check stuff, you know, girlfriend's best friend. Kinda hard to tell Glinda that I didn't do my research if I did."

"So your Glinda's mysterious stranger, I've been hearing so much about," Fiyero eyed.

"Oh," Avaric took down the measurement, "Extend your other arm please."

Fiyero did as he was told, "Yeah, Glinda's been telling me all about you. She does not shut up."

Avaric grew a little red at the words, "Well, that's Glin for you. How do you know her?"

"Grew up with her at the Vinkus, dated for a while, but it just wasn't clicking."

"And it is with Elphaba?"

Fiyero was shocked at his words, "There's nothing between Elphaba and I."

"Sure and the smiles your greeting her with are nothing?"

"We're just friends; at least I hope we are anyway."

"You don't know?"

"No, I mean I did something really stupid, but I thought I could forget it. I can't though."

"I see how it is man, you never get over your first love," Avaric patted Fiyero's shoulder reassuringly while measuring his height.

"Avaric," Shelia called.

"Shelia," Avaric scolded, "I thought I told you to help Miss Elphaba."

"She doesn't want any," Shelia lied smoothly.

"Sounds like her."

"Do you want any help here?"

"Uh, no, we're good; just stay at the reception counter."

Shelia grumbled under her breath before moving off.

"She's a piece of work," Fiyero commented.

"She is, but she brings the customers in."

"What, with her snarky attitude and constant flirting?"

"Exactly. Some men like that kind of thing and she brings the customers in. So what were we talking about again? Oh yes, first loves, you never get over them."

"But Elphaba was not my first love."

Avaric gave him the 'eye'.

"Okay, so maybe she was, but what makes her so special from everyone else I've dated?"

"How many times did you say 'I love you' to her?" Avaric asked.

"I don't know," Fiyero admitted.

"How many times did you sleep with her?"

"Don't know that one either."

"How many chocolate boxes and flowers did you get her?"

Fiyero smiled, finally an answer he knew, "None, because she hates that crap."

"Exactly, you don't count the number of times you said I love you to her or the number of times you slept with her, because you already know the answer to all those."

"Do you always tell you customers this?" Fiyero asked him.

Avaric chuckled, "Only those who need to hear it."

"What's that suppose to mean?" Fiyero demanded, but he never got his answer because Elphaba walked in wearing the dress she'd found.

Fiyero's gawked at her like a teenager on the night of his Débutante Ball. She'd taken her ebony hair out of its customary braid and the silky waves fell onto her shoulders. On her neck was a necklace, but he wasn't sure what it was of. The dress hugged her curves in all the right places and the sweetheart neckline suited her hourglass figure.

"Elphaba, I'm glad to see you found a dress, but must you really choose last seasons?" Avaric said.

"I like it, so shut up."

"Fine then. You look wonderful; don't you think she looks wonderful, Fiyero?"

Fiyero was still gawking at Elphaba, before recomposing himself, "Yes, you do."

Elphaba smiled, "Thanks, can I take this one Av?"

"Sure, I'll just get Shelia to help you."

"Shelia!" Avaric called when, she didn't come Avaric moved to the reception area.

That left Elphaba and Fiyero in a very awkward situation.

"I better go get changed," After many moments of awkward silence, moving away from the measuring room.

"Elphaba," He called.

"Yes?" she asked, whipping her hair around like the first time they met.

He strode towards her and tucked a stray lock of ebony hair behind her ear, "You do look good." _More than good, I think it'd look even better pooled at her feet. _

Fiyero's eyes went wide at the thoughts, but covered it up, by kissing her forehead unexpectedly.

Elphaba stepped back with her head tilted to the side in confusion, but before he could say anything she moved from the room.

**XoxoX**

Unknown to them that two people were watching the exchange between them. Avaric smiling at the fact that Elphaba had somebody to love and that he would always be there for her. Shelia on the other hand was in a fit of rage about the fact that Fiyero was taken and by that green slut, out of all the people.

* * *

**Gah, this chapter did not want to end. I swear. It took me just 4 hours and 20 minutes to write. So I'm sorry if it seems really bad and out of character, I just needed to update something. I have done half of Defying All Odds chapter 22. That will be updated on Friday or Sunday. Also I'm thinking about changing my pen name to something else, any suggestions?**

**Larri**

**Smiles**

**X**

**Ps. In length this chapter is 18 pages in size 12 font at 1.3 spacing. **


	5. Important Author's Note

**Important A/N Must read**

Okay, so my computer hard drive crashed and now I can't upload anything because, well, all my story files went POOF! and Disappeared, so bear with me. I apologise so much at the moment. Also, just bear with me for a while, it might be a long time before I can update anything because my Microsoft Word is temporarilyon hiatus as well. So sorry. :( So this story is officially on hiatus. I'm so sorry.

Larri

smiles

x


	6. Chapter 5: The Deepest Wound

**Disclaimer: Life is painless, when you're claim less. **

**A/N: Wow, *nervous chuckle* I haven't updated this story in over a year. Yeah...sorry about that, but this is an extra long chapter to try and make up for it. Really sorry about the not updating it thing. Also, I can't be bothered to explain my hiatus again, so if you're interested go read my _Couples Therapy Revised_****A/N that should clear a few things up. Also, I re-read some of my stories from back in '10, and sanctified excrement (holy shit), my grammar and writing skills were atrocious, although not much can be said not. ;-). I'm not fishing compliments, I swear. **

**Okay, a few notes before reading this chapter. Upon re-reading the story, I have decided to change a couple things. **

**1. Fiyero's sister's name is not Marcella anymore, like in a previous chapter, but Lyra because I like the name better. **

**2. I also realised I put Elphie and Yero at a completely unrealistic age for being able to run and business and assistant. So when they met Elphie was 24 and Yero was 26, therefore, Elphie is now 29 and Yero is 31. Cool. Great. **

**3. If I ever put that Elphaba has a brother, ignore it, I axed him. **

**4. I think I had something else, but I've forgotten it. Oh well, also, I have two very subtle references to the TV Show, Bones in the story. Brownie points to those who find them. **

**Great, since that's done, on with the story. Oh and unedited, so please excuse any typos or weird formatting things. Thanks. ;)**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

**The Deepest Wound **

Elphaba did_ not_ like parties. At all. So, as she sat by idly and sipped her second champagne glass, she wondered why in Oz had she agreed to this cultish, social gathering. She would rather be at her dingy, old townhouse than here. The elaborate and fanciful decorations would make her squirm uncomfortably in her seat as she watched the repetitive dancing couples. Green silken ruffles hung from the rafters with minute traces of pink that would have made Glinda proud. Adorned with zircon crystals and small emeralds. Tables were arranged spherically, the dance floor sitting square in the middle. A small podium was pushed haphazardly to the side underneath the flower-embellished arch.

Elphaba rubbed her ankles for the fifth time in an hour. _Cursed these damned shoes, _Elphaba remarked bitterly. Although, the black-jeweled shoes were simple and exquisite in their own way, they pinched her toes and the straps around her ankles dug into the flesh. She cursed again upon opening the buckle of her shoes to find a red welt along her ankles. She made a mental note to kill Glinda in the morning for persuading her to wear the shoes…_no,_ Elphaba corrected, _personal nemesis. _

The nonsensical and incessant chatter filled the room at every corner. Citizens from every part of Oz had been invited to the Annual Ozdust Ballroom to celebrate the Wizard's come to power thirty years ago. Elphaba took another sip from glass, the sweet tangy flavour burning her lips. She smoothed out the nonexistent wrinkles on her dress and fiddled with the emerald pendant on her neck. But stopped short; the glass nearly fell from her hands. Her breath hitched and her heart pounded. Colour flooded to her cheeks as he glanced at her. She turned away and at present the intricate wooden carvings on the floor seemed much more appealing. _Oz, save me_, she pleaded, tracing the delicate stitching on her dress skirt.

A garish laugh brought her out of her thoughts. Her head jerked up at the all-too-familiar laugh. Even though fashionably late—_within reason, _she admonished herself—he still knew how to make an entrance. He'd stridden over to the refreshments table and within a span of five minutes and begun flirting with the nearest thing to a woman he could find. Every so often he would surreptitiously glance Elphaba's way, at which she would turn away and blush crimson and he would smile charmingly at Elphaba and return to the woman by the refreshments table.

Elphaba sculled the last of her champagne at an alarmingly fast rate before snatching a glass of Oz-knows-what off the waiter's tray. She brought the glass up to her lips experimentally and wrinkled in disgust. _Red wine, _she remarked distastefully, placing the glass down and moving to the corner closest to the refreshments table. Elphaba glanced around nervously. Sighing in relief as she discovered Fiyero and the current object of his affection had moved over to the bar. The feather light touches to each other, Fiyero's unimposing stance against the bar and their unruly laughter brought out a small flare of jealously.

A plate of appetisers passed Elphaba and she unceremoniously shoved them into her mouth. She glanced over to Fiyero, who was making the woman blush furiously, again. Elphaba sculled a shot of tequila, completely unaware how it came into her hand. _This was going to be a long night, _she thought.

**XoxoX**

Fiyero could not stop staring at her. She was a vision of beauty and elegance in _that _dress. The bodice cinched at her waist; creating the illusion of an hourglass silhouette. He was in deep shiz, and he knew it. That oz-damned dress would have looked good on anyone else, but on her it looked _amazing. _It clung to her body in a way that made his stomach flip at the appreciative glances from other men. _Thank goodness she doesn't notice it. _Her ebony curls were pinned back meticulously with one lock framing her face, an emerald green rose delicately placed in the bun. _Glinda's handiwork no doubt._ He mentally scolded himself at his usage of clichés and his lack of self-control, not that he had much to begin with.

She smoothed out the nonexistent wrinkles on her dress and fiddles with her necklace. He gave her his most charming grin before waltzing over to the green-eyed, redhead by the refreshments table. The redhead was responding as any mediocre woman would; smile, blush and flirt back. Nothing new. So he would continue to flirt with the redhead, while furtively sneaking glances at Elphaba and making her flush consistently. However, for some bizarre twist of fate he was somewhat _relived _to know that he still had _that _effect on her.

He never caught the redhead's name, Penny, Penelope, or something along those lines. He was too mesmerised by the emerald godness in that all-too-flattering dress to pay attention to anything else, even if Penny-Penelope-or-what's-it-face thought so.

Somehow they ended up at the bar table and she was ordering tequila shots for each other, which Fiyero had rejected, to the surprise of Pfannee, which was her _actual _name, and to the greater surprise of Fiyero. He begins to flatter Pfannee with attention making her blush, although it was more of a blood orange colour, Unlike Elphaba's which ranged from crimson to pink rose. He sneaked a peak out of the corner of his eye and is surprised, scandalised and bothered that his assistant has drowned a shot of tequila. He blinked.

Another figure approaching him catches his attention. Wearing the crown of the Vinkun Royal family and the customary sash lined with ribbons and badges, which accompanies the formal suit, reserved only for particular or special events, the rest of his family in a tow. Fiyero inwardly groans and bids adieu to Pfannee, she subtly hints at him to call her. He says he will, but he knows he never will. _Not again, _he reminded himself. Heartbreak once was once enough.

**XoxoX**

"Fiyero, my son, what brings you to the Ozdust?" his father asked jovially, although his eyes said otherwise.

Fiyero narrowed his eyes at his father. Harold Tiggular stood as if he was always on the throne in the Vinkus. His imposing stance once made a servant blanch and then faint. Although in his mid-sixties, he had never lost the ability to intimidate from his youth. However the tell-tale signs of age were evident, the greying and balding hair, his face mattered with wrinkles and the thin wires frames around his eyes.

"If you must know I was _invited_," Fiyero stressed unnecessarily.

"Because of you name," his father stated more than question, rather proudly as well.

Fiyero gritted his teeth in response.

Sensing the tension between her husband and eldest son, Brilly Tiggular, current ruling Sovereign of the Vinkus, took the initiative. Before her husband and son tore the other apart.

"So, dearest," Brilly directed at Fiyero, "how's life in the Emerald City?"

Fiyero sneered at his mother slightly, but then sighed. Fiyero knew the game she was playing. "Mediator, once again," he whispered above his breath, but indulged his mother. "It's certainly…" he searched for the right word, "different," he settled with.

Brilly immediately brightened at the prospect that she, once again, diverted a battle of words and wit. "That sounds wonderful, Yero!" she exclaimed happily, a wide smile gracing her elegant features, "I wish your father would have allowed us to live in the Emerald City at a point during our lives."

"Bril, we've been over this," his father sighed exasperatedly, "my father had just died, the Vinkus needed a ruler. It would have been bad publicity if we'd run off to the Emerald City."

Brilly made an inelegant sound at the back of her throat and huffed, but accepted the answer.

Fiyero blinked. He had never seen his mother display such child-like behavior before, much or less in _public. _His mother had always seemed to be the epitome of sophistication and elegance. The pedantically done up hair; never a wisp in sight, the stern and cautious gaze Fiyero saw many times as a child and her regal, but commanding figure, able to silence a room with one glance. Fiyero wouldn't have believed it, if he hadn't seen it for himself.

"Where are Chris and Lyra?" Fiyero asked, just noticing the absence of his younger brother and sister.

"Christopher went to the bar to catch up with an old friend and Lyra's dancing," his mother pointed over. His father grunted something incoherently.

Fiyero glanced his father's way and looked adorably confused with his eyebrows wrinkled.

His mother laughe wholeheartedly, patting Harold's shoulder reassuringly, "Your father doesn't appreciate the fact that his little girl's growing up."

"No one is good enough for her!" his father exclaimed, moving from Brilly's touch, "did you see the boy she brought home last week! He had a nose piercing _and _tattoos!"

Fiyero raised a skeptical eyebrow. "So? We have tattoos," Fiyero pointed out.

"Yes, son, that's _different_. Our tattoos symbolise that we are part of the Vinkun Sovereign, plus for the most part, no one ever sees them. Pray tell, do you think the name _Shen Shen _tattooed with hearts around it, is _symbolic?"_

Fiyero looked away, "You cannot control her for the rest of her life. She needs freedom, otherwise you'll eventually drive her away and she'll do something she _actually _regrets."

"While she lives under _my _roof I am responsible for her care and wellbeing. If she keeps up this childlike behavior I'll have to take further action," Harold told his son.

Brilly bit her lip in trepidation; _this was _not _how the conversation was meant to turn out. _ She was about to interject her thoughts when her son sent her a look saying 'don't you dare'. She kept her mouth shut.

"By Vinkun Law she is considered an adult," Fiyero exclaimed quietly, trying not to draw the attention of the other guests.

"Since when do you know anything about law or propriety?" his father questioned.

"Remember, I majored Political Science with a minor Business and Commerce at EU."

"It's a wonder you graduated," his father replied a hint of sarcasm lacing his words, although enough to make Fiyero's blood boil.

"Really? Is it so hard to believe that I have the capacity to finish a degree? When Christopher graduated from Shiz you didn't patronise him, you congratulated him and said you were proud. Is it so hard to believe that I left behind those days of partying and philandering to complete my degree at EU?"

"You build a reputation and you're stuck with it forever," Harold told his son sternly.

"Ask anyone in this room if they remember me in my teenage years and I can assure you they don't. All they see now is the successful publishing CEO with a father who's an ass," Fiyero shot back, "it's not my fault you're so simple minded."

"Well, maybe then it would be better to have Christopher as the Crown Prince."

"Harold!" Brilly exclaimed, shocked that her husband's anger had escalated to this, "you shall take that back this instant! Just because you play favourites with the children doesn't mean I will! And if you did make Christopher the Crown Prince you'd be breaking one of the oldest traditions in the Vinkus as well as the _law_ that _you _enforced, unless Fiyero abdicates his claim to the throne."

"I don't," Fiyero stated firmly, eyeing his father warningly.

"This conversation is not over," Harold told him grimly.

"Oh, Harold, stop patronising our son," Brilly admonished sternly, "we need to talk to him about that _thing._"

"What _thing?" _Fiyero said in the same tone as his mother.

Harold crossed his arms, refusing to say anything. Brilly sighed and began, "Yero, the Vinkus is in trouble—" Brilly caught something in her son's eye, genuine worry "—with you constantly in the Emerald City as CEO, Christopher in the Gillikin and Lyra always on some exotic trip around Oz. The public has been _questioning _the Royal Family's power concerning some matters…"

"And you want me to come back to the Vinkus," he concluded sadly, "mother I can't just pack up everything and leave. I built my company from the ground up, leaving it would be a sign of weakness to my competitors." _Not only that I'd be leaving the one woman who still has my heart, _he added silently.

"No, it's more serious than that," Brilly said a cloud of darkness flooding her features, "throughout the Vinkus there have been rumours and speculation that our family has no one to take over from the crown once your father dies. The public has become increasingly worried that since his successor has not been named yet that the Vinkus will become a place of havoc and destruction without the sovereign."

"That's…ridiculous though…" Fiyero spluttered, "there have been times in history when a successor hasn't been named till the last minute and they were perfectly fine!"

"Yero!" Brilly said grabbing her son's shoulders to prevent him from going into hysterics, "times have changed since then. I'm not asking you to come home; it's bigger than that. I'm asking you to come home _and _arrange a marriage."

**XoxoX**

"Elphaba!" Her head snapped up at the sound of Fiyero calling her name.

"Yes?" she asked confused as to why he would need her assistance on this particular night.

"Dance with me," he half-asked and half-stated. Although Elphaba had a sinking feeling he was not asking her. He was demanding she dance with him. Elphaba was prepared for a list to things to be thrown her way, and sometimes she was not being metaphorical, but that was the last request she expected.

"Why should I?" Elphaba asked clearly annoyed at his interruption of her thinking space, although a infinitesimal part of her was flattered…she squashed that part immediately.

"I need your help," was all he said.

"Of course you need my help, I'm your oz-damned assistant!" she quipped back, "now do me a favour, leave me alone. If all you're looking for is quick, no-strings-attached sex, I recommend the redhead you were flirting with, I'm sure she'd be more than happy to oblige."

"Elphaba, this isn't about sex," he told her lowly, "I need your help. Look I'll explain it to you later, but please humour me and dance."

"I'm a horrible dancer," she admitted to him.

"Last time I checked, you dance fine," he told her sincerely, a hint of mischief gleaming in his eyes.

No comment on Elphaba's part. She was sure that Fiyero had not been referring to _this _kind of dance and turned crimson against her better judgment. His lips turned into a sly grin, somewhat cocky at his ability to continually make her blush in embarrassment. Then somehow, Fiyero had managed to drag her to the dance floor and she had gone _willingly,_ without any protest. She was about to tell him this was ridiculous and improper and any other excuse she could have thought up with, but then his hand guided itself on her waist; her objections seemed futile now. His other is clasped in hers in a tight grip, feeling self-conscious she looked away from him.  
"Hey," he told her, removing his hand from hers to tip her chin up, "follow my lead and you'll be fine."

Embarrassed at his ability to render her speechless, Elphaba merely nodded. He gave her a small smile before grasping her hand once again to spin her anticlockwise. Narrowing her eyes slightly, _what was he up to?_

**XoxoX**

Despite her previous qualms before, Elphaba had relaxed into the dance and had yet to step of Fiyero's feet. Although Elphaba had relaxed considerably since the beginning, she had noticed Fiyero's distracted state and glassy gaze towards the back of the room. He glided her absentmindedly towards the other side of the room and spun her again. Her skirts twisted around her body, especially her hips, Fiyero couldn't help but notice, in one flowing motion as he pulled her back in closer to him.

His eyes were focused on his mother and father. There keen gazes of observation focused on their son and the green girl. Fiyero noticed his mother's glassy gleam of joy with her eyes and the nearly invisible tears within her eyes, his father, however, looked indifferent towards his son. He sighed and twirled Elphaba once more, but she stumbled slightly and he caught her as soon as she began to fumble. She blinked once. Twice. Her chocolate eyes clouded with confusion, she parted her small mouth, but closed it again and he resisted the very desirable temptation to kiss the corner of her mouth.

He pulled her even closer and whispered in her ear, "I'll never let you fall, Fae," the nickname slipping out inadvertently.

There it was. The unspoken message between them. The ghost of her old nickname still flowed from his lips. His hand gripped tightly in hers felt natural, the other on her waist tingled her skin; despite being under layers of clothing. Glinda once told her that there was a moment in every relationship were they either caught fire or burnt out. Elphaba, listening to the echoing words of her best friend wasn't sure what this moment was, but her judgment on the situation was hazy; all bets were off. Looking into azure, she saw a mix of emotions confusion, need, happiness, but the most apparent was, _lust_, and that shocked Elphaba the most.

He pulled her closer, their bodies pressing against each other. At some point they had stopped dancing and now everyone was dancing around them, but Elphaba or Fiyero didn't care. This moment was _theirs. _He licked his lips in anticipation and Elphaba parted her mouth slightly; blushing at the intensity of his stare. He brought his head closer to her, their noses nearly touching. Closer. _Closer._ _Oh Oz,_ Elphaba thought. He was millimetres from her, the distance between them nearly non-existent.

_What are you doing? _Elphaba opened her eyes, _when had she closed them?, _and jumped back as if she'd been burnt, as did Fiyero, and ran a hand through his hair. Elphaba twisted her necklace, which earned a curious glance from Fiyero.

"Didn't I give you that?" he asked simply, slightly flustered from what could have been moments ago.

Elphaba bolted. Fiyero followed.

**XoxoX**

_**Three Years Ago**_

_Elphaba surveyed the conference room. Anxious shareholders anticipated the arrival of the CEO for the annual two-year report. It had been a long and tedious two-years for Elphaba, fraught with trials and tribulations and sleepless nights, and not only for work-related purposes. She blushed at her own thoughts. Elphaba removed any inappropriate thoughts of her boss. _For the time being, _she thought as an afterthought. _

_She shuffled the papers in her hand into one neat pile before bundling the package with elastic. She plucked the pen from her hair and wrote in neat script in the header, 'AVG. TIME: 7 min'. Elphaba pushed the pen back into her bun and moved towards the podium. A pair of arms snaked around her waist and pulled her back. She characteristically rolled her eyes, but a smile was plastered on her face. Leaning into the embrace, Fiyero kissed the tender flesh below her ear. _

"_Is that for me?" he asked noticing the bundle in Elphaba's hand. _

"_Uh-huh," she murmured drowsily. _

"_Fae," he twisted her around, so she was facing him, "you okay?"_

"_Yeah, just a bit tired," she mumbled into his chest the bundle protectively clutched to her. _

_He gave a low chuckle, "You are amazing," and wrapping one arm around her shoulders. _

_Her speech was muffled, but he kissed the top of her head, "I love you too, Fae."_

_She pulled herself from his embrace and reverted back to assistant mode as if a reflex, she pushed her glasses back up her nose and straightened her blouse. "Your shareholders are waiting anxiously for your annual report. I have highlighted the main points you'll need to address and please no adlibbing, we all _know_ how that turned out last time."_

_He gave her a sheepish glance, "No adlibbing, scouts' honour."_

"_You never were a boy scout, Yero," Elphaba pointe out. "Be prepared for hard questioning—" she adjusted his navy tie till it was straight "—and people questioning your judgement."_

"_Fae," he said, "I've done plenty of these annual meetings long before your came around. I'll be fine."_

"_Sorry," she apologised. "Just review the notes I gave you, read from the speech I wrote and I love you. Happy two-year anniversary," she kissed him chastely, "break a leg, not in the literal sense though." _

"_Thanks—" his mind reeled back, _Two-year anniversary?Oh Lurline, _"Happy two year anniversary too, Fae."_

"_You forgot, didn't you?" she said slight hurt tinting her words. _

Oh, Fae, _"I'm so sorry, Fae." And he was irrevocably _

"_It's fine," she choked, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a pile of budget reports I need to finish."_

"_Fae," he tried. _

"_I'm fine, really," she told him choking on her words. _

"_Fae," he took a step closer. _

"_I really must get going. Good luck," she called after him. _

_Fiyero buttoned up his blazer and proceeded to the podium; a heavy weight and sense of dread on his shoulders. _I'm an ass, _he thought before beginning. _

_**XoxoX**_

_Elphaba tossed her keys on the apartment bench. Tonight she was alone. Nessa and Glinda had gone speed dating, much to Elphaba's chagrin that Glinda was introducing her baby sister to the not-not-wonderful world of speed dating. Fiyero and her had not made any plans, which was clearly evident when he forgot their anniversary. Elphaba scowled and removed her shoes, flinging them into the corner. _

_She marched up the stairs and changed from her work attire to jeans and black turtleneck and pulled her hair from the tight bun. The familiar ding-dong of the doorbell jostled Elphaba from her thoughts; she muttered a profanity under her breath upon seeing Fiyero's youthful figure looming in her doorway. _

"_What?" she scowled at hoim, leaning against the doorway; blocking his only entrance in. _

"_Can I come in?" he asked. _

_She sent him her look-of-death. "No, you forgot!" she was becoming slightly hysterical, "honestly!"_

"_I brought food," he said meekly, holding up the plastic containers. _

"_I'm not in the mood for a booty call," she told him, eyeing the cherry cream pie in one of the containers. _

"_I swear to Oz, Fae, that you will wake up with the majority of your clothes on."_

_She arched an incredulous eyebrow, "Majority?" _

_He shrugged his shoulders, "Can I please come in?"_

"_Fine," she relented moving from the doorway. _

_Fiyero beamed. Elphaba glared. _

_**XoxoX**_

"_I am really sorry Fae," he told her as she picked at the pasta on her plate, "I've just had a lot on my mind."_

_She fumed, "and what am I? A footnote that nobody ever reads?"_

_He winced visibly at her choice of words. "You know you mean more than that to me."_

"_I'm sorry if I _forgot _care to enlighten me?" she deadpanned a minute trace of anger lacing her words. _

_He stood, his façade of calm crumbling at his feet, "I don't know what you want from me. Do you want me to stay or go?"_

_She began to wring her fingers together, a black curtain of hair coverinf her face. "I…don't know," she said quietly that Fiyero almost didn't catch it. _

"_Goodnight, Fae," Fiyero told her, kissing her temple softly, "I'll see you in the morning."_

_She said nothing, choosing to remain silent of fear that she would say something she'd regret in the morning._

"_Almost forgot," he spun back around and pulled a weathered leather box from his jacket pocket. "Happy Anniversary, Fae," he whispered in his ear, trying to elicit a response from her. No luck. He sighed and removed his coat from the hook, the gentle click of the door following his exit. Elphaba's head snapped up at the click of the door, Fiyero's ghostly footsteps echoing the townhouse. _

_She glanced at the weathered box. A not had been stuck to the top. Prying it from the lid, she unfolded the paper. _

_To My Dearest Elphaba-Fae, _(it read)

_I'm so incredibly sorry for forgetting our anniversary. I know words are not enough for you and I understand that; please forgive my momentary lapse in memory. You deserve a lot better in life, especially in me. You deserve someone who remembers your anniversary every year. Someone who is able to kiss you in public without fear of what the public says or writes. You deserve a lot more in life than a brainless Vinkun Prince and idiotic publishing CEO. I can't give you any of that, but I can give you this. _

_Elphaba Melena Thropp, I give you my body, for as long as we should live. My soul, for eternity and my heart, for forever and whatever is beyond that. For you and only you, my love, I would travel to the ends of Oz. And for you I would do anything and everything to keep you safe. I am eternally grateful for your presence in my life and thank whoever sent you to cross paths with me. My love for you knows no bounds. You are my best friend, soul mate and any other clichés that you can think off and will probably laugh at me for putting in. _

_You are my assistant; you help me run my life. Without you I would be no better than a toddler in a Louis Wizzion Boutique, hopeless lost. _

_You are my best friend, someone I confide in and know won't tell the world. _

_You, my beautiful green goddess, are beautiful. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. _

_You, my love, have my heart and soul for eternity and forever more. (I expect it in mid condition if I ever ask for it back, which will be never). _

_I'd wait for thirty, forty, fifty years if I had to and even a lifetime if you asked. I can't guarantee that'll remember our anniversary every year, but I'll promise you, from the depths of my heart, that'll I'll always be there for you. _Always. _I am eternally grateful for you. _

_Forever and yours, _

_Fiyero-Yero_

_P.S. Do open the box, it was my mother's and I think it would look absolutely wonderful on you. _

_Elphaba set the note down, small droplets of tears glistening in her eyes. Her eyes moved towards the weathered box. Dropping the note on the table, and prying the box open. She gasped and fumbling with the box in shock. A white gold chain with an emerald pendant encased in small intricate diamonds lay on the velvet. Elphaba set the box down and jumped up, rushing to the door. _

"_Fae?" a voice from the porch swing asked. _

"_Yero," Elphaba said softly moving closer to him, "you didn't leave." _

"_I could never leave you," he told her sincerely closing the distance between them. _

_Elphaba frowned, "How long did you plan on staying?"_

"_All night," he answered automatically, "I'll wait for you every time." _

"_You're one big cliché, you understand that?" He nodded and Elphaba sighed, "but you're my cliché."_

"_Hey, Fae," he said tipping her head to face him, "I can't promise, but I love you and at the moment that's all I can give you."_

"_As long as you're mine," she told him and, for now, it was enough. _

**XoxoX**

"Elphaba," Fiyero puffed out as soon as she came into view.

"What?" she asked him, looking out towards the Emerald City. The shimmering lights captivated her, swirling memories of her past haunted her and she wanted nothing more to do with them.

"Fae," he breathed as if a prayer.

"Don't call me Fae," she whirled on him a year and a half's worth of anger bubbling to the surface, "you have no right to call me Fae…anymore."

"Elphaba," he said, "what do you want from me?"

"To leave me alone."

The words sliced him deeper than any knife could have.

* * *

**A/N: Anyone still with me? That wasn't too bad, was it? Anywho, I've got a question, is Wicked in the West End closing because I heard a rumour it was. And who is excited for the Wicked movie! Me! Except, I really don't want Lea Michele to play Elphaba, it is my personal opinion she does not have enough spunk to be Elphie, considering all the characters she's played in films and Glee are all pesteringly annoying. Sorry, I don't mean to offend anyone. Oh, and that letter in the middle was based on something my cousin received the other day from her boyfriend. **

**Beautifully Tragic**

**smiles**

**x**


	7. Chapter 6: Marry Me, Elphaba

**Disclaimer: It's called FAN-FICTION for a reason. Do the math...well more like English, but that's beside the point. **

**A/N: I'm back home, I'm so happy I could...MELT! Also, I know I tend to write a LOT of length descriptive paragraphs with no relevance to anything. I'm trying to get into the habit of writing less dialogue because my English teachers don't like dialogue, which is a pity, really. So this chapter is more dialogue-y than paragraph orientated. **

**Anywho, I plan to finish this story, no matter how long it takes me. I will try and update every week, two at the most, but don't get your hopes up. My workload is already over my head and school hasn't even started yet. **

**Thank you to vinkunwildflowerqueen, DorothyInWonderland, ChaoticSymphonyofDarkness, MommyMoni215, Lyra124 and XxQueenElphabaOfTheWestxX for your lovely reviews and anyone for reading. You guys are awesome!**

**On with the chapter...I will eventually make these things shorter, the A/Ns I mean, unless you guys want shorter chapters...**

**And yes, you did read the Chapter name right...**

* * *

**Chapter 6**

**Marry Me, Elphaba **

She'd found refuge in the storage closet. Although she knew that was probably—correction, she _knew_ he'd look there for her. Her mind replayed the events of the night, her mild form, for lack of better words, of jealously, that _dance,_ too intimate and _familiar _for her liking and that near-damned kiss. And she was so willing. Self-control was something she prided herself on, and control was the one thing she needed in her life. Everything else was a side note.

Then that...argument, if she could call it that. _More like self-preservation,_ Elphaba thought. She'd left soon after that, didn't care where, but she needed to get out of there. It was suffocating; he was so close to her, one moment later and they would have kissed. And it _scared _her. She'd built a wall around her; an automated defence system that protected her. Elphaba though she had regained a form of control over the situation. Apparently not.

One touch he was able to render her speechless, a feat not commonly heard of, and broken through those well-crafted defences of hers.

One whisper of an old nickname and she would have done anything for him at a drop of a hat.

And one fleeting memory brought back a year and a half's worth of pent up rage and anger. She'd made a spectacle of herself, her cheeks had flushed and her hair had unravelled itself from Glinda's meticulous handiwork.

Elphaba _hated_ it. Hate, was not a strong enough word though, loathe, seemed more adequate. Elphaba _loathed _how he could make herself feel this way. How he could make a woman of her talents speechless, crumble her defences to dust and allow her to feel so weak in his embrace. The worst part, however, was that she _wanted _it.

She wanted him, how oddly clichéd it sounded. It frightened her to know how much she wanted him.

She groaned and rubbed her temples. _Emotions are too complicated. _

During her time of contemplation Elphaba had made herself comfortable on an old, gangly looking chair and pulling hairpins from the knotted mess.

"Elphaba?"

**One Hour Later**

"This is all, _your_ fault," Elphaba told him stubbornly, poking him in the chest.

"My fault?" he asked jiggling the door handle.

"It's not going to open," Elphaba deadpanned from against the wall, ignoring his protests against her accusation.

"It might," he persisted stubbornly, continuing to jiggle the handle in a rather violent nature.

"Fiyero, I know you are a man of many talents," Elphaba began sarcastically, "but I don't think they extend breaking down doors."

"Thanks, Elphaba, your faith in me is comforting," he remarked dryly.

"I aim to please."

"You certainly do," he replied waggling his eyebrows.

Elphaba sent a glare his way and chose to ignore his comment, "Well, we're not going to be going anywhere anytime soon, so sit."

"Why?" he asked curiously leaning towards her, a little too close for her comfort though.

"Because I'd rather the source of my pay check, _not _complain to me that his feet kill," Elphaba quipped.

"That hurts, Elphaba, that really hurts," he mocked with a hand over his heart.

"I'm sure you'll live," Elphaba told him, stacking boxes on top of the other to form a seat.

"Ouch. You could really hurt a guy's ego like that."

"Your ego's already big enough," Elphaba stated leaning against her knees.

"Love you too," he mumbled to himself, but just loud enough so Elphaba could hear. She made a strangled sound at the back of her throat before silencing herself.

An awkward silence descended upon them.

One minute passed.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

"Why'd you dance with me?" Elphaba blurted clasping her hands over her mouth as soon as the words tumbled out.

He sighed dejectedly, sliding down against the wall next to her stack of boxes, "You really want to get into that? Now?"

She shrugged nonchalantly, looking down at him, "It's not as if we have anything better to do."

He stood, not liking her looking down at him. "Not that it's any of your business," the humour from their earlier conversations disappearing.

"Excuse me," Elphaba challenged, standing to her full height, "I am privy to some of the most intimate details of your life,_ I_ think you can trust me on this."

He chose not to comment on that matter. "I don't think you're going to like it though."

"Try me..."

He hesitated momentarily before starting, "Well, you know how I'm Crown Prince, right..."

**XoxoX**

"Really, Harold," Brilly Tiggular sighed, "can't you accept Fiyero's happiness for once? You had no problems with Christopher and that Gillikinese girl."

"Bril, Chris can look after himself, Fiyero is a disaster waiting to happen," he told his wife carefully, as if not too offend, although his words of choice had her frowning immediately, "and the girl Chris was with was..._politically advantageous_ and the _certainly_ girl didn't have a strange verdigris."

"Harold!" Brilly scolded her husband, "that's no way to talk about a woman that might become our daughter-in-law and if politics are all you care about, then you'll be pleased to know that she was El-PH-ba Thropp"—enunciating the middle of Elphaba's name unnecessarily—"of Third Descending and daughter of Melena and Frexspar Thropp, Eminent Thropp of Munchkinland and _Governor_."

_Damn, _he inwardly cursed, _the girl had a title. Damn. _"Still she's not fitting, she's..." _hideous, ugly, scrawny, _all jumped at Harold, but he settled with, "green."

"Oh, Harold!" Brilly exclaimed throwing her hands to punctuate her point, "there is more to life than what meets the eye! Inner beauty is what really counts."

"But—" Harold tried; he knew this was a sore spot for his wife. The radiance of her youth had faded with age, the shine of her strawberry blonde curls had left and gleam of mischief in her eyes had dissipated with time, but the stubborn personality he fell in love with as a child was still there. He could see why she was taken to this girl; the odd skin deformity would have been an immediate turn off to any man within a hundred metre radius, although not for Fiyero. Fiyero had proven to his mother that beauty is not only skin deep, it lies within the heart and soul. And Harold knew his wife wouldn't be more proud of their eldest son.

"No buts, Harold," she told him sternly, giving him the _look._ Harold knew that look. It was one she had used for the past twenty years on their children. "Oz forbid, if they ever have a..._grandchild_ that we never get to see because of your simple-mindedness. Do you really want something that special to be taken away from us?"

Harold sighed, defeated. He knew his wife had won this battle, "No, but—"

"What did I say about buts?" Brilly said, "just let Fiyero have his happiness. Oz knows he deserves it after that break up. How long was he with that girl?"

"Three and a half years," Harold told his wife quietly.

"Exactly, long-term relationship break ups are the worst," Brilly said reminiscently, "but enough talk of that. You might want to save our daughter going home with a hustler though." Although she generally disapproved of this behaviour from her husband, she knew he would eventually notice their daughter with a man. Better sooner than later.

At his wife's words Harold stood a little taller, looking for his youngest and, in his opinion, naïve child, "Where is she?"

"By the bar," Brilly said motioning over to where her daughter was giggling at something the man had whispered in her ear.

"Let me at him," Harold told his wife, striding over to where Lyra was. Brilly shook her head solemnly.

"Dad going to beat somebody?" Christopher questioned sliding into the empty space that once housed his father.

"Unfortunately," Brilly told her middle child.

"Good for him," Chris told his mother, unaware of his mother's scepticism regarding the matters of the heart and her husband. "She's much too young to be dating someone like _that_," he said distastefully, eying the unkempt personality Lyra was trying to coax their father to leave alone.

Brilly Tiggular, a woman of refined talents, especially in areas of motherhood and maternal instinct, loved all her children the same, but her middle child's ignorance to the world bothered her sometimes. Fiyero was always the rebel of the household, his coming-of-age rituals, the sleeping around and moving to the Emerald City to make his own life. One that wasn't controlled by his father or the advisors, Fiyero wanted control and in the end, he received it. Whether it was for good or bad, he was the rebel.

Consistently.

Always wanting to prove he was more than an idiotic, brainless Prince. His coming-of-age story flummoxed those of the older generations, interested and impressed that someone of his status and calibre would revert to such an old tradition that many of the lower classes had trouble handling. The day he told Brilly and Harold he was moving to the Emerald City to set up a company, Harold had flown into a rage and didn't speak to Fiyero for the next two years. However, Brilly coerced him to apologise, she didn't want to lose her son. They were family through thick and thin.

Christopher was on the opposite side of the spectrum. Fiyero and he were like the East and West. Polar opposites. Two completely entities, it even surprised her sometimes to remember they were related. Chris looked to their father for approval on everything. He was the 'angel' of the household as Harold had dubbed him. Christopher was the child that received good grades in school consistently. The child that apologised when necessary and the child that _certainly _never slept around with half of Oz's female population. He was the child that every parent wants. Brilly loved her son dearly, but his ignorance and blatant disregard for the world beyond the castle walls had created a rising friction between the two for years.

His disrespect for the maids, servants and any one of lower class irked her. His act of superiority, Brilly knew, drew Fiyero over the edge, who, as Brilly discovered some years ago, hated the idea of servants, maids and people of the lower class. Once as a child he had asked his mother why they are different from them and she replied, "We aren't".

Lyra was another story. Their father had suppressed and controlled her to no end since Fiyero had left. Harold had always liked control, and Fiyero's leaving had shown Harold how little influence he'd been on his eldest child. As a way to make up for his lack of influence, he had thrust all his beliefs on their daughter, who was only fourteen at the time and looked at Fiyero for guidance through her youth.

Lyra became more rebellious through her adolescence, looking for a semblance of control that her father had stripped away from her. Fiyero had understood that and even though his father and him weren't on speaking terms for the first two years, he called every now and again just to talk with Lyra, give her advice and check up on everyone.

Brilly shook her head slightly at her middle child's lengthy prose about Lyra, their father and dating. She merely nodded along and ignored him for the better part.

**XoxoX**

"So let me get this straight," Elphaba said sitting on the makeshift chair, "the Vinkus is in peril because you, your brother and sister are never there?" Fiyero nodded. "And you have to get married so you can save the crown, because your parents haven't officially named you the Crown Prince, even though by birthright you should be?" He nodded once again. "Otherwise the Vinkus will go into a revolution?"

He nodded, "In essentiality, yes, that is what will happen."

"You know that if you get married _and_ go to the Vinkus there is no way of knowing if the people won't revolt."

"I know," he slicked back his tousled hair and Elphaba held a breath, "but I have to try, I am first and foremost, The Crown Prince of the Vinkus and if my country needs me, I will return."

"That's very noble of you, Fiyero," Elphaba remarked, "but if you go back and get married you can't be a CEO in the Emerald City. Unless you've found a way to be in two places at once, but it's simply not done."

"I know, it's not like I'm given much choice, it's either get married or abdicate," he told her.

_She is so close, _and they were. Shoulder to shoulder, thigh to thigh and the close proximity of her was not doing anything to squander his attraction for her. She was still in _that _damned dress, and if he looked at the right angle he could see down—_Bad Fiyero! Bad! _He scolded himself, _think of Puppies dying, Hair gel ceasing to exist, Christopher wearing a bikini. _That did it. His hormones were a mess and she was quite oblivious at the effect she had on him, her hair tumbled down her back in soft waves and it took all his willpower he had to not lose all resistance and pin her to the wall behind her. _Oz, I'm in trouble._

* * *

_**Two Years and Ten Months Ago**_

_"Have I mentioned how much I _hate _you?" Elphaba told Fiyero sweetly one day when they were both feeling particularly lazy and decided to forgo work. It wasn't if he had anyone to fire him and she was his personal assistant/secretary and he wouldn't fire her in a million years. She was just too efficient at her job for that. _

_ During the course of the day they had defied the laws of physics numerous times, due to the fact that Elphaba had told him it was impossible, although she was quite convinced it was possible after Fiyero's unique _persuasion _technique, which had Elphaba thoroughly converted after round three. However, Fiyero's sister, Lyra, rang up and asked her brother what he was doing and he replied defying the laws of physics and promptly hung up, and leaving a severely confused Lyra. She called back a few minutes later and told her brother he was disgusting and promptly hung up herself. _

_ During the whole escapade, Elphaba had been mortified; almost as embarrassed as she had been when Glinda came into her room after their first time together. She scolded him and told him she would never be able to look at physics the same way again. He then went on to destroy her love of chemistry and biology with his innuendos, which earned him locked out of the bathroom while she had a shower. Much to his protest and complaining, but it was drowned out by Elphaba. She had become a professional at ignoring his complaints and protests about her bedside manner. _

_ She had come out dripping wet and wearing his blue button up shirt. Only the shirt. He made an off comment about her looking good wet and she went bright crimson and rattled off about his business meetings for the next day. He kissed her and told her to shut up as his fingers roamed the tender emerald flesh of her stomach and legs. And the rest is history..._

_ "Define hate," he replied cheekily pulling her back closer to him, his hand in hers and her hair splayed out on his chest. She snuggled in closer to him, their legs tangled together and her head perched in the crook of his neck. _

_ "Seethe, loathe, detest, dislike, despise—" he rolled her and covered his mouth on hers to shut her up. _

_ When he pulled back he whispered, "Love you too. I rather like our definition of hate though."_

_ "That was not what I meant," she whispered harshly, trying to loosen his hold on her and failing. _

_ "You're not going anywhere," he said pulling her closer to him, "don't leave me here alone." _

_ "Why are you being so clingy all of a sudden?" she asked, clearly vexed, pulling back to look him in the eye, "ever since I told you, you're being so clingy. Sometimes, I feel...I feel as if you're suffocating me."_

_ "Sorry I'm protective," he said lamely, letting his hold of her loosen and gently pushing her to the side, "you're free to go. I'll try not to suffocate you next time."_

_ "Yero—" Elphaba tried, but he'd already left._

Damnit, _she thought to herself as he left. Moving off the bed and dressing herself. _

_**XoxoX**_

_ She has no idea why he goes to the office when he's mad at her or when they get into a fight, all she knows is that he does. She doesn't find him in his office; actually she doesn't find anyone on the floor. She heard music from the conference room and headed off to investigate. Elphaba blinked as her senses are met with flashing neon lights and the wafting mixtures of sensations, mainly the acidic smell of both alcohol and coffee. A large banner that read, 'Farewell, Marc' was hanging from the rafters. The conference chairs and tables had been pushed aside for a dance floor and shoes of employees had been scattered throughout the room. Shirts hanging out, ties undone, hair let loose and everyone reeking of alcohol, she coughed before heading off to find Fiyero. _

_ Elphaba found him with a glass of scotch, although she could tell it was untouched. _

_ "I though you said you wouldn't drink," she told him. _

_ He jumped slightly, he cocked his head to the side in amusement, "I did, didn't I?"_

_ She nodded and silence descended upon them. _

_ "Look, Fae," he said after a few moments, "if you want me to give you space that's fine. I understand your need for space, you're very independent and I know and respect that. I'm sorry if I've been a bit clingy lately, but I can't help it. I don't want anything to happen to you, I love you too much."_

_ Elphaba sighed and pulled a chair next to him. "Maybe that's part of the problem sometimes," a look of hurt distorted his features and Elphaba understood how misleading that sounded. "I didn't mean it like that," she clarified, "you're very chivalrous, I get that, you love me, you want to protect me, generally what happens. I'm feministic, I'm not over the top, but sometimes you treat me like some damsel that need saving. I can assure you, Yero, I'm no princess, I don't need saving. I will ask for help, but don't try and protect me to the point where I have no room to breathe."_

_ "You would be a princess if you married me," he told her. _

_ "Is this you asking me to marry you?" Elphaba asked arching a thin eyebrow. _

_ "No!" he protested, "I love you and all and I'm excited, but I think it's too soon."_

_ She nodded in agreement, "I don't have much experience in relationships," she told him abruptly. "You are the first serious relationship I've had," she said quietly looking down._

_ "Is that a bad thing?" he asked her, tilting her head towards him, but a frown crossed his face, "I'm the first? Really?"_

_ "Serious relationship yes, relationship, no," she said before laughing humourlessly, "I don't know what to do or what this even entitles, but I think—"_

_ "Fae, this is _your _problem," he interrupted. "You're over analysing this, you calculate every single detail before making one, at this rate well be fifty by the time we _actually_ get married. All this entitles is you and me together, nothing else. As for what we do, well leave this behind closed doors," he winked at her. _

_ She slapped him softly on the arm, "I was very welcoming the first time we..." she trailed off, even after nearly three years together, she was still embarrassed by it. _

_ "Yes, you were," he said wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. _

_ "But do you think it's too early?" she asked referring to their discussion a few days ago, "aren't we jumping a little too quickly into everything?" _

_ He tucked a hair behind her ear, running his thumb over her high cheekbone "No, we have plenty of time to live, laugh and love, but, Fae, what's happened, has happened. No backing out now."_

_ The corners of her mouth kicked into a wide smile, "I remember why I fell in love with you. You're sweet, kind and all sorts of wonderful. I'm lucky to have you."_

_ "No, Fae," he said pulling her closer, "I'm the lucky one, you're all sorts of wonderful, intelligent, beautiful and you never cease to continue amazing me every day."_

* * *

"So why don't you abdicate the crown?" Elphaba asked curiously, "you have more siblings."

"It's slightly more complicated than that," Fiyero told Elphaba, "Christopher is a good person, when he tries to be, but he lacks a certain..._charisma_ with the underprivileged and Lyra can't have the crown anyway, it must go to the male."

"That is the most sexist thing I have ever heard!" Elphaba exclaimed.

"That's politics in the Vinkus," he told her dejectedly.

"Well, then, I don't like politics," she told him stubbornly, "and who says _you_ have to get married—"

"Elphaba."

"It's not if you have work to do here—"

"Elphaba."

"It's like feminism never even happened—"

"Elphaba."

"And it's not like you can marry _me. _I'm green for Oz-sake—"

"Elphaba, stop," the implication of her words hit him, "that's actually not a bad idea."

"What? Me taking over your company?" she asked confused.

"No, but that's not a bad idea either, maybe then we'll get the stocks up," he waved it off though, continuing his line of though whilst it was still fresh, "the one about you marrying me."

"How much have you been drinking?" Elphaba said automatically, sniffing his breath, "I saw you with that redhead. Come on, Fiyero, stop kidding yourself, you can't want to marry me."

"Why not? You know me better than anyone else, you put me in my place when I'm being an ass and you run my life. I don't see why I couldn't marry you."

"You can't be serious," she said and searched his face for an answer, "oh. My. Oz. You are."

"I'm deadly serious about this," his voice a near whisper.

But..." she stuttered out, "I can't marry you."

"Why not?" he asked genuinely curious about the answer she would give.

"Well, you're...you."

"Come on, Thropp, it can't be _that _bad getting married to me."

"It's bad enough I have to work in the same building as you!" she exclaimed in near hysterics, "being married to you would be absolute...torture!"

"Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence," he told her wryly, "but come on, Elphaba, I need your help. I'll give you whatever you want, if you need money for Nessa—"

"I don't need money, I need..." Elphaba paused contemplating her choice. "I need you to leave me alone, after we're finished with this..._charade_. I need to move on with my life, you are—" she quickly corrected her words, "this _job _is a constant reminder of what-could-have-been. I don't want that. I need to leave, Fiyero, I don't know why I didn't earlier, some part of my twisted sense of loyalty to you, but I need to leave. After this charade is done with I want you to leave me alone. Forever. No contact ever again. No calls, messages, emails. No. Contact. Ever. Those are the terms of my agreement, take or leave them."

Fiyero was expecting an array of demands, but he never thought of that. Their falling out had cut her deep, he'd always known that, but he never understood how deep it went until now. An overwhelming sense of guilt flooded through him, he was never there for her after. He'd moved on with his life, as if she'd never been more to him than his personal assistant. She stayed in the same place for a while. He knew that, he always knew that. He continued, while she was left to pick the pieces and rebuild herself. Fiyero felt like the biggest ass in Oz in that moment. His newfound guilt was already eating away at him.

After their falling out he went out of his way to make her life harder than it already was, unaware of anguish that he'd already caused. She'd always catch him with some woman in his office on the very couch that he told her he'd love her forever. His throat constricted as the guilt piled on him, threatening to take him under.

His bipolar nature with her was a coping mechanism, he didn't know what to do in the situation, and she was the _one _woman that he had to _work_ to get. She was the enigma that perplexed him to no end, always something different. One moment he thought he would have her figured out and then she'd change.

In his previous relationships, he would have called it quits and given up, but not with her, she was the one puzzle he was determined to solve. Something about her made sense. It clicked, like a switch had been flicked and he realised that even though he'd worked his ass off to get where he was, he couldn't imagine himself with anyone else.

The question was though, was he able to let the one woman who he gave his heart to leave with it?

"I accept," he said, with an inward sigh, _I have to._

* * *

**Righto, it's midnight here and I really should be asleep, but my insomnia decided to kick in today, so I'm doing this. **

**Next chapter, Elphaba and Fiyero head to Kiamo Ko, yes, I know it is the other castle, but in this story it is THE castle. Anyways, I'm off to read Out of Oz...although I should really be reading Catcher In the Rye and Othello for school...sighs...**

**DorothyInWonderland, then why have stopped selling tickets until October 31, is it something to do with the Olympics coming up? Or have I heard something wrong.**

**Feel free to PM me, if you please, if you want to talk about random stuff or anything. Have a nice night/day depending on where you are. **

**Larri (Beautifully Tragic)**

**Smiles**

**x**


	8. Chapter 7: The Charade Begins

**Disclaimer: Sighs, although I am a woman of many talents, creating these wonderful characters was not one of them. **

**A/N: HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY! To my fellow Aussies and anyone else who wants to celebrate! Anywho, school starts tomorrow and I want to go die, not seriously someone kill me! Not looking forward to the perils of Year 11. Sighs...anyways, early update. Enjoy! I kinda skimmed edited this one, sorry, three hours of writing had made by behind go numb...the sacrifices I go through for you guys...**

**Big thank yous to my anon reviewer, Lyra124, ****ChaoticSymphonyofDarkness, DorothyInWonderland and XxQueenElphabaOfTheWestxX for their lovely reviews. Big Thank yous. Oh and anyone who reviewed my one shot, Six Simple Smiles, kudos to you too. :-) **

**This chapter is dedicated Lyra124 because her reviews always make me smile when I read them and ****ChaoticSymphonyofDarkness for understanding my predicament regarding school work. Thank you!**

**Enjoy! **

* * *

**Chapter 7**

**The Charade Begins **

It had been a week. One week of organising his schedule before they were both headed to Kiamo Ko. One week of clearing out her desk in preparation for her inevitable departure. One week of his consistent pestering to make sure she understood the plan he had devised of, which was quite ingenious, Elphaba had to admit. Not that she'd ever tell him. His ego was already big enough and he _certainly_ didn't need any encouragement on Elphaba's part. Oz, she'd already done that. And he'd made a casual comment when they were in the storage closet together that whenever she blushed around him his ego was stroked. Needless to say, she made a side note on trying to better conceal her flushing cheeks. He sent a cocky grin her way and she slapped him. On his upper arm. Hard. He did eventually stop his unwanted sexual insinuations and innuendos...for about five minutes, before making another offhanded comment about her ass. For which he got a kick in the groin. He shut up after that.

They were eventually found by an Ozdust employee, which had heard Fiyero double over in pain, due to Elphaba's physical attack on him. However, Elphaba had the slightest inkling that the employee thought their little tryst was a lot more than words and a physical attack. And she could see why. Her face had turned a shade of light cerise, not because of his close proximity, or so she thought, but the lack of ventilation in the shoe-box sized closet had made it incredibly hot, her hair was messed and lacked its meticulous up-do from earlier in the evening and he dress had been skewed awkwardly around her body. Elphaba found it best not to comment and leave.

Fiyero had other ideas though and whilst they were both leaving he promptly wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into an awkward, lopsided embrace. Confused by his actions, she merely returned the hug and he told her they had to make it look real, and by real he meant that they had to return to their couple routine from before whilst in public. Behind closed doors, they were free to do as they pleased, and he'd made his usual innuendo about them behind closed doors and she'd discretely stepped on his foot with her heel.

Upon entering the Ozdust, they were both met with an assortment of shocked stares, murmurs of disapproval from the crowd and distracted stares from some of the single and younger women in the crowd, however, Elphaba deduced that they were reserved for Fiyero and definitely _not _her. They'd both made their way over to the bar, at which Fiyero had made a big show about them being together. As in he brought her a drink _and _kissed her hand. She reeled back at the display of affection and chuckled nervously, sipping her drink quietly. Although he could tell her reaction was far from indifferent, her face had reddened and her chocolate eyes had clouded over.

He sighed and her eyes widened as she saw his parents make their way across the crowd towards them. Elphaba took another sip of her drink and sat up a little straighter. Fiyero, on the other hand, couldn't care less about his parents approaching and told Elphaba to stop fidgeting, she had to at least _pretend _she was comfortable. He earned a glare his way for that comment. They both stood and waited to be greeted his parents, with a little too much distance between them, so Fiyero took the initiative and latched Elphaba to his arm. She sent another surreptitious glare his way and muttered a rather unflattering comment under her breath. Fiyero smiled charmingly at her, before trailing his hand down the back of her dress. She stopped him and sharply told him that they didn't need to act like _that. _

Fiyero shrugged at her and left his hand on her waist, she unknowingly nestled further into his embrace, a habit she had yet broken from their time together, which he did notice, but wisely chose not to comment on it.

Elphaba not expecting Brilly Tiggular to embrace her with open arms, but when she did Elphaba stood stiff as an ironing-board momentarily before melting into the older woman's embrace. Elphaba was more at ease with Fiyero's mother, than his father, who was not at _all _pleased in his son's choice of a life partner. Brilly Tiggular, who had taken an instant liking to Elphaba, jumped immediately at her defence and apologising for her husband's rude and inconsiderate behaviour. However, Harold's judgement of the emerald-skinned woman changed when he discovered her knowledge of politics, not only in the Emerald City, but of The Vinkus, but he was still wary of her.

Fiyero told his parents to expect them at Kiamo Ko in a week, Elphaba not realising what she was agreeing to merely nodded, until a horrified look of panic overcame her face and shot it at Fiyero. He pinched her waist slightly, trying to get her to smile again and she did. Very unwillingly. She'd mentally scolded herself for ever agreeing to this ridiculous charade, until she remembered the price. _Freedom. _So she went along with it, although having butterflies erupt in her stomach whenever he was near was _not _a pleasant feeling. Or so she tried to tell herself.

**XoxoX**

"Right, you know the plan, Elphie?" he asked Elphaba, who was, he presumed, not listening while she had her head buried in a rather thick hardcover.

"How many times have I told you _not _to call me that ridiculous nickname Glinda keeps insisting upon?" she asked his tiredly never taking her eyes from the page.

"Well, I need to give you a pet name," he insisted propping his legs up on the opposite seat, "you know to make it look real."

"Oh for Lurline's sake!" she exclaimed slamming the cover shut with a little more force than necessary. "I don't need an Oz-damned nickname to make it look real!" but the more she thought about it, it did make sense, her mouth kicked up into a small smile with a glint of mischief in her eyes, "well, if you insist, _Fifi_."

He cringed, Glinda had come up with that nickname back when they were together ten years ago and when he'd told Elphaba about it, she burst into a fit of laughter and swore to never let him forget about it. "Really? _Fifi? _Come on Elphie—Elphaba," he quickly corrected avoid her tearing him limb from limb, "is that the best you can come up with?"

"Well, there's not much you can do with your name," she admitted sheepishly turning away and opening her hardcover again.

He leaned back in his seat and shook his head. "Okay then, Elphaba, what can I call you? Elphie is out of the question, Fabala is what Nessa calls you and you don't want me to call you Fae," he said, "what can I call you then?"

"Elphaba," she deadpanned, "if you blissful brain can handle that."

"But that's too long," he whined like a child asking his mother for something.

"I pray for The Vinkus when you're King."

"Ouch," he reeled back with a mock sense of hurt, but some part of him knew that he was truly offended by her lack of faith in him. "Fine then, I'll call you..." he pondered in thought, "Elpha!"

"No, thank you," she said turning a page. "El-pha-ba," she told him enunciating the syllables.

"Nope," he declared stubbornly, "Elpha it is, unless you want me to call you Fae again."

"Elpha it is then," she hastily replied, "I'll just stick with Fiyero if you mind."

"You know," Fiyero said coolly, "that if you take the letters from Fae, you get Fiyero and Elphaba?"

"Yes, I was acutely aware of that," she told him.

* * *

_**Four Years and Eight Months Ago **_

_"You know you're wonderful," Fiyero told her while she was reprograming his computer system. _

_ "And you're a suck up, Yero," she quipped back and cursed, "what in Oz has the IT Department been up to? This is the worst system I have ever seen."_

_ She was currently sitting at his Maplewood desk and going through his laptop. They had both recently discovered a hack in one of their systems and Fiyero was running a hole through the floor in worry. The IT Department were yet to find anything and Elphaba, who Fiyero discovered had experience with computers, graciously accepted his request to look through his systems. Although with her minimalistic experience, she was an efficient worker. She had a determined look on her face, one that he had seen many times when filing his budget reports. Her curls were haphazardly pulled into a pollyanna and her wired rims were pushed up her nose and Fiyero fought all thoughts of her as a librarian, because his libido would not be able to handle it. That added with the fact was _officially _his girlfriend, he's been having less than appropriate thoughts about his personal assistant. _

_ "Is it really _that _bad?" he asked pushing all inappropriate thoughts of her away. _

_ She nodded, "I recon a three-year-old with minimum computer experience could hack into it, let alone a professional one."_

_ "Can you fix it?" he asked, apprehensive._

_ She shook her head, "Unfortunately my talents only extend to your filing systems and identifying computer issues. I can't actually fix them myself. I can try and find someone if you want?"_

_ "Don't worry about it," he waved her off, "I have a friend who'll fix it for me, free of charge."_

_ "Are you sure because I can get a number—" she rattled off until her kissed her, just to shut her up. _

_ "Your faith in me is endearing," he told her when he pulled away, mischief gleaming in his eyes. _

_ She slapped his cheek gently, "Don't get cocky with me now."_

_ "Sorry, Elphie."_

_ She glared at him, "Don't call me that."_

_ "What Elphie?" he asked looking like a puppy that had just been kicked, "but Glinda calls you that."_

_ "Glinda is too adamant about it to change her mind," Elphaba sighed pulling herself from his embrace. "I can only hope that you'll know better than to mess with my name," she told him exiting through the door. _

_ Of course, he didn't._

_**XoxoX**_

_"Elba?" he asked trailing behind her as she left a folder on every table in the conference room. _

_ "No," she told him, never glimpsing towards him. _

_ "Fabala?" _

_ "No, Nessa calls me that," she said, paused in thought, then continued, "and hers is only baby talk from when she was younger."_

_ "Faba?" he asked. _

_ "No!" she exclaimed, "what is wrong with El-pha-ba, Yero?"_

_ "There!" he pointed, she cocked her head to the side, "You call me Yero, therefore I should have a nickname for you. It's only fair."_

_ "I hate you," she mumbled into his chest, "I hate you and your damned logic."_

_ He rubbed her shoulder, "Nah, you love me."_

_ "Maybe," she teased. _

_ "Bafa?" he asked. _

_ She made an inelegant sound in her throat._

_ "I'll take that as a no then?"_

_ "Elphie?" he asked, wondering if she would have changed her mind due to his constant pestering. _

_ "No!" she protested, "it's so...Glinda and it has too many E's in total."_

_ "Right..."_

_ "Fa?" he asked and then a thought struck him, "Fae!"_

_ "Yes?" she responded at the name, "what did you call me?"_

_ "Fae," he told her proudly, "you know, your name is El-PHA-ba, I just chucked on one of those E's you hate so much."_

_ "It's not terrible..." she contemplated, then came to her decision. "Fine," she relented, "you can call me Fae, just not in front of everyone."_

_ Excited by her acceptance of her nickname, he pulled her in by the waist and spun her. "You know," he said setting her down, "if you take the letters from Fae they spell Fiyero and Elphaba."_

_ "You are so cheesy," she mocked affectionately._

_ He gave her a quick kiss to the temple before leaving, "You know you love me for it!"_

_ Elphaba watched him leave, when he was out of an earshot, "I do."_

* * *

"I'm sure you told me that when you bestowed that nickname on me," Elphaba remarked.

Fiyero shrunk in his seat slight, "Yeah, I did," and silence descending upon the two. Fiyero spent the rest of the ride staring out the window, watching the repetitive scenery pass. While Elphaba kept reading and...occasionally glancing up from her book to look at him.

**XoxoX**

"This is where you grew up?" Elphaba asked in awe. She had heard of Kiamo Ko during her childhood when her mother read her stories and although she had seen pictures of it, but in person it was mind blowing.

"No," he told her, pulling her bag from the carriage. "This is the other castle," he waved it off as if nothing.

"Other?" she asked raising a sceptical eyebrow, "how many castles do your family have?"

"Does that include the—"

She cut him off, taking her bag off him, "Never mind. I never asked."

The spiralling towers of brick and mortar would never cease to continue amazing her in their architecture, elaborate and fanciful decorations covered the walls and marble columns that led to the grand entrance. Elphaba suddenly felt out of place dressed in her simple black dress and boots, and she wasn't expecting it to be so hot. She'd slid her jacket in the carriage and pulled her long hair off her neck. Elphaba took one more glance around the surrounding area, becoming more at ease at with moment.

"Come on, my parents are expecting us," he said breaking her out of her trance.

"Uh-huh," she murmured distractedly, still mesmerised by the landscape.

**XoxoX**

"Fiyero!" his mother exclaimed happily pulling him into a tight embrace, "so glad to see you again. I missed you, a week seems like forever."

"Good to see you too mum," Fiyero said sincerely and he caught Elphaba silhouette standing awkwardly in the hallway. She did not look in place with the rest of the castle's décor. He pulled away from his mother, "you remember, Elphaba."

"Of course," she exclaimed pulling Elphaba into a tight embrace similar to Fiyero's, "good to see you again, dear."

Heat flooded to Elphaba's cheeks at the term of endearment used by Brilly, "Good to see you again too, your—"

She stopped her midsentence, "None of this 'your majesty' business, call me Brilly or ma, Oz forbid you call me ma'am."

Elphaba's face light up and smiled at the older woman, "Of course, Brilly."

"Thank you, dear."

At that moment, Harold Tiggular decided to make his appearance, Elphaba flew to Fiyero's side, knowing how he could overact if his father made an obnoxious comment towards him. Elphaba, like his mother, he had noticed, was slipping into a sort of mediator role when it came to his father and him. And he hated himself for it. Not only was she helping him put on this charade, but he was sure that when she had accepted this job five years ago, that this _definitely _wasn't in its description.

"Son," Harold greeted his son stiffly.

"Father," Fiyero said, equally as cold, although his icy exterior melted when he felt Elphaba trail a finger down his palm. He sneaked a glance at her and clasped his hand in hers, expecting a gasp of sort or a reaction, but she merely return the gesture with a small squeeze. "You remember Elphaba?" Fiyero asked to ease the tension. He was glad when his father shook Elphaba's hand civilly without any complaint.

"Yes," Harold said, "my, my, how does a man of Fiyero's calibre end up with a woman like you?"

"A lot of patience," Fiyero said truthfully. And it was.

Elphaba arched an eyebrow, but didn't comment.

Brilly and Harold both laughed at his son's answer, Fiyero was never the one for patience.

"Harold, where are Lyra and Christopher? They promised they'd both be here for this," Brilly said sadly, disapproving of her other children's tardiness.

"Oh, don't get your royal panties in a wad, mother," an overly obnoxious voice commented, _Christopher, _Fiyero thought bitterly and pulled Elphaba a little closer than necessary to him. "I'm here and who is this fine, fine, creature?" Chris asked eyeing Elphaba up and down.

She sent a glare his way and backed off.

"Christopher," Brilly cautioned. "We do not speak to our house guests like that. This is Elphaba, your brother's _fiancée,_" And she'd said it in such a manner that made Chris understand the message, _Elphaba is your brother's, don't you dare. _

Chris turned to Elphaba. "Miss Elphaba," he said pulling her hand from Fiyero's and kissing, holding on to it for slightly longer than needed. She pulled it back however and furtively wiped it on her dress. "It will be a _pleasure _to get to know you," Chris said slyly, but Fiyero noticed his clearly covered up euphemism and kissed the flesh below Elphaba's ear and his message was clear. _Mine. _

Elphaba's response though was a hushed, half-strangled moan and whimper of surprise. And Fiyero thought his would self-control would burst at any minute.

"Fiyero!" A voice squealed and five pairs of eyes went to the end of the corridor and a person, who Elphaba could only assume was his sister, was running towards the couple. Elphaba made herself scarce to avoid being crushed to death by the over exuberant personality.

Once they were finished hugging, Fiyero asked, "How's my favourite sister been?"

Lyra giggled and slapped her brother gently, "I'm your only sister, but she's good."

"I'm glad to hear that," Lyra giggled at her brother and then noticed Elphaba in the shadows, "who's this?"

"Oh," Fiyero said pulling Elphaba back to him, despite her many silent protests, "this is Elphaba, my fiancée."

Lyra let out a Glinda worthy squeal that made Elphaba cringe, "My brother's getting married!"

"Yes," he said calmly, recovering himself from his sister's Glinda-esque reaction to the news, "and he would prefer it if you didn't make his fiancée deaf before that."

Lyra grinned sheepishly, "Sorry, but this is so exciting!"

"Lyra, inside voice or no voice at all," Brilly told her daughter gently, "it's unbecoming on a young lady."

"Sorry, mother," Lyra apologised before turning to Elphaba. "So what in Oz made you chose my brother? Surely someone like you can find more suitors?" Lyra giggled.

"Someone like me?" Elphaba asked, not sure if that was a compliment or insult.

"You know, smart and pretty!" Lyra exclaimed, "so do tell, every little disgustingly cute detail."

Before Elphaba could answer, Harold cut in, "You two must be tired from such a long journey and standing isn't doing anything. Shall we take this into the Drawing Room?"

**XoxoX**

Harold, Brilly and Lyra had made themselves comfortable on the beige lounge, Chris on the red velvet armchair and Fiyero and Elphaba on the plush loveseat, which Elphaba was trying her best not to fall asleep in Fiyero's lap, while her stroked her hair gently, both of which found it strangely and surprising erotic to them.

Noticing her drowsiness, Fiyero decided to take the lead in answering any questions.

"So how'd you meet?" Lyra asked her Fiyero, her eyes gleaming.

"She spilt coffee on me while she was headed for a job interview," he said, grinning at the apocalyptic moment.

"Oh my!" Lyra exclaimed, "did she make the interview?"

Fiyero beamed, "I was the interviewer."

"That's so romantic..." Lyra said blissfully unaware of how _un_romantic it actually was to have coffee spill on you.

"It's not really," Elphaba contradicted, "having black coffee spilt on you isn't what one thinks of as 'romantic.'"

"But it is..." Lyra sighed dreamily, "meeting your soul mate in a coffee shop. Hands touch, eyes meet...it's just...all sorts of wonderful."

"I didn't think so," Elphaba mumbled to herself, "I was thinking what a brainless idiot."

"Love you too, Elpha," Fiyero whispered and she flushed. She was about to send back a retort, when there was a boisterous knocking from the front door.

"Oh, that'd be your friends and parents, Elphaba," Brilly told her.

"That's nice..." Elphaba's head shot up from Fiyero's lap, feeling very much awake now, "What?"

"Yes, we, Harold and I," she glanced lovingly at her husband who simply shrugged, "we wanted it to be a surprise for you both. We know you both run in the same social circles."

"Oh, that's wonderful, _right, Elpha_?" he stressed, his eyes pleading her to play along.

"Oh yes, it's just so wonderful," Elphaba said in a very un-Elphaba-like manner.

"We hope you'd think so," Brilly exclaimed happily. "Now, I'll just go get them, Harold, Chris and Ly, we need to go introduce ourselves," and the said people stood and left.

Once Elphaba knew they were gone she pulled away from Fiyero, "Must we be so..._affectionate_?"

"Hey," he defended, "we need to make it look as real as possible, if that means we actually have to touch each other, so be it."

"But do we really have to be so touchy-feely?" she asked disgustedly.

"Hey, I didn't force your head on my lap, you put it there yourself," he half-whispered, half-shouted.

She went silent, afraid words might betray her, "Oz," she said with realisation; "Glinda's going to kill me. She's going to hate me."

"What? Why?" he asked, "she's your best friend. She wouldn't hate you, ever." _Like me, _his mind screamed at him, but he pushed the thought away.

She flicked a finger at his temple, "Are you really this stupid?" she paused momentarily, "wait, don't answer that. Glin knows we broke up, and she hates you for breaking up with me—"

"Now, wait a sec, I didn't—" he denied and stood.

"I'm not finished yet," she told him. "She knows and she lets it slip, we're in trouble. Oz, we're in trouble. We didn't think about it, Fiyero," she said pacing the room, "Glin's going to be so mad at me for even _agreeing _to this sham marriage. Oh my Oz, what have I done?"

"Elphaba," he said, gripping her shoulders to avoid her pacing. "Everything's going to be okay. You are an intelligent woman, you're amazing and you won't screw this up," he kissed her forehead lingering slightly afterwards, "you'll do fine."

He pulled her into an embrace, not one of those quick hugs that he'd been giving her recently, but a full on embrace, one arm curled around her shoulder and rubbed it soothingly, while the other went around her waist. Elphaba didn't comment, she liked being held like this, her arms snaked around his waist and buried her head in his chest, wanting to never let go, but despite his adamant claim that everything was going to be okay, she knew for a fact that this was not going to end well. However, she didn't know who it wouldn't end well for.

A throat clearing brought them out of their embrace, Elphaba turning cerise at being caught. _Oh Oz. _Glinda in all her pink and blue glory was tapping her foot in an annoyed fashion and her hands were crossed over her chest. Not a good sign.

"Elphaba," she said. _Damn,_ Elphaba silently cursed, _no Elphie, it must be serious. _"Can I talk to you"—Glinda eyed Fiyero—"alone." And Glinda left.

"If you hear screaming, come rescue me," Elphaba pleaded jokingly.

"With Glin?" he asked incredulously, "no thanks, I love you and all, but no way am I getting in the middle of you too."

"Thanks, love you too," she joked before leaving. The implications of their last few words said not hitting her until Glinda dragged her away to another room.

**XoxoX**

Once out of hearing distance of everyone else, Glinda demanded Elphaba sit and, Elphaba, taken aback, but her friend's sudden demanding and quizzical nature, obliged wordlessly.

"What in Oz's name do you think you're doing?" Glinda asked her friend, hands on hips and cerulean blues ignited in rage.

_This was not going to end well, _Elphaba concluded prematurely.

* * *

**A/N: Right, kinda fillerish, but as authors we need fillers. I have one request though, can we please try and get this up to 50 reviews? Pretty please? anon people can review as well. Thank you for future reference. **

**Anywho, in celebration of Australia Day I have found this YouTube Clip that tells it like it is. Essentially it is the Australian Elphaba and Glinda doing a parody of What Is This Feeling, in an Aussified way. Enjoy! **

**http:/www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=Ol7yyqmO2Lg**

**My Anon Reviewer, thank you for your kind words.**

**DorothyInWonderland, must of heard something wrong then, but thanks for clarifying. **

**Larri (Beautifully Tragic)**

**Smiles**

**x**


	9. Chapter 8: Temperament

**Disclaimer: Now, I wouldn't be ranting about Year 11 if I owned Wicked. **

**A/N: FIRST OFF, OVER 50 REVIEWS FOR THIS STORY! I LOVE YOU GUYS *HUGS ALL ROUND***

**Lyra124, Confusifyed Lady, ChaoticSymphonyofDarkness, ComingAndGoingByBubble and XxQueenElphabaOfTheWestxX for all your lovely, reviews they mean the world to me. **

**Reviews are much appreciated and I'm kind of hit a dead end and have no idea to go next with this story, so some ideas from you guys would be great. And a hint of why Elphaba and Fiyero broke up is in this chapter and the one before it. *Wink* Happy Huntings. **

**Enjoy and remember, reviews are appreciated. **

* * *

**Chapter 8**

**Temperament**

* * *

_**Four Years and Seven Months Ago**_

_"Elphaba," Glinda asked her friend, "where are you going?"_

_ "Out," Elphaba replied shortly grabbing her coat off the hook. _

_ "Where?" Glinda questioned sternly, leaning casually against the doorway, definitely not by coincidence._

_ Elphaba sighed and rubbed her temples, "Out with Fiyero."_

_ "Again?" Glinda cried, "you went out with him yesterday!"_

_ "Yes and..." Elphaba asked, "that's what two people going out do, they go out."_

_ "You do more than go out," Glinda muttered to herself cynically...or rather she thought she did. _

_ Elphaba turned on her. "Now, just wait a clock tick," Elphaba said firmly her hands balled into fists. "I know it's hard for that blissful, blonde brain of yours can comprehend that he _actually _loves me, but he does and I wished you'd accept that, Glin," Elphaba clasped Glinda's hand, "you're my best friend and I love you, but I love him as well. Please understand that I don't want to choose between you two."_

_ "Oh, Elphie," Glinda choked, suddenly ashamed of her ludicrous behaviour in the past few months, "I understand it Elphie, but it's so hard."_

_ "What's so hard about it?" Elphaba asked, buttoning up her coat. _

_ "I...I'm... (mumble)...of... (mumble)..." Glinda murmured to Elphaba never taking her eyes off the floor. _

_ "Pardon, Glin?"_

_ "I said I'm jealous of you!" she blurted. _

_ Elphaba blinked. Once. Twice. Thrice. _

_ "Elphie, don't look at me like that," Glinda said, "please, it creeps me out. It reminds me of Horrible Morrible from Shiz."_

_ "Sorry, Glin," Elphaba reeled back. "But why? I mean, there's nothing to be jealous, if anything, I should be the jealous one," Elphaba gestured down to her well-used coat and green complexion. _

_ "Elphie!" Glinda cried in exasperation, for years she'd been trying to convince her friend she was beautiful, and she truly was. If it wasn't for the abnormal colouring of skin, Elphaba's beauty would have been able to rival Glinda's own. "You are beautiful and Fiyero obviously sees that. I'm jealous because you have someone to spend Saturday evenings with, while I've been reduced to speed dating with Nessa," Elphaba laughed at the comical image of Glinda and Nessa speed dating together and Glinda gave her friend a stern glare, "that's not funny! I mean seriously, Elphie! It's Nessa! I'm jealous because Fiyero looks at you like _I _want to be looked at. I'm jealous because his eyes light up like fireworks whenever you walk into the room, and don't you dare deny it, Miss Thropp."_

_ Elphaba said nothing. _

_ "I'm jealous because the studious, green-girl from Shiz got the Prince and I didn't. I haven't seen a man in almost a year and I'm dying here! It's like forever," Glinda complained. _

_ "Glin, I hate to break it to you," Elphaba told her friend, "but eleven months is eleven months and forever is forever."_

_ "Elphie," Glinda giggled, "this is one of the things I love about you, you are just so philosophical."_

_ "That's not—"_

_ "Stop arguing with me and go on your date," Glinda said like a miniature general and ushered Elphaba out the door, to the great protest of Elphaba. _

_ "Glin, I can call him and cancel if you want," Elphaba said, not liked being forcibly removed from her own house, "we can have a girl's night in like we did a Shiz."_

_ Elphaba looked as if she wanted to continue with Glinda silenced her. "Not another word from your mouth, my pretty. Go enjoy your date and have fun," Glinda added with a wink, "but not too much fun and for Oz's sake you better use protection. We don't need another one of you running around patronising us all." _

_ Heat flooded to Elphaba's cheeks at the implication, "Glin, he's only taking me to the Museum Of Ozian History. I highly doubt anything will happen." _

_ "But you know, if it does," Glinda winked again and Elphaba turned cerise. "You know use protection. Lurline, we don't need another of you running around patronising us all and with you and Fiyero's genetic traits..." Glinda shuddered at the outcome. _

_ "Thanks," Elphaba remarked dryly. "But nothing will happen, expect me home at the regular time," Elphaba told her friend before heading out. _

_ "So you're staying over at his apartment?" Glinda asked suggestively, Elphaba groaned and kissed her friend on the cheek. _

_ "No comment," Elphaba said chuckling at her friend. _

_ "Sure..."_

_ "Goodbye, _Ga_linda," Elphaba said purposefully using her friend's former name. _

_ "Elphie!" she gasped, "you promised you'd never use that name again. It's so immature and childish sounding."_

_ "Like you're behaving?"_

_ "Touché, but go have fun, before I drag myself along."_

_ That got Elphaba, "Bye, Glin!" and she flurried out the door and greeted Fiyero, who was leaning against the carriage, with a long and heavily passionate kiss that Glinda, who had seen some horrific things as a child, like catching her parents in the act, blushed at. _

_ Fiyero caught her gaze and gave Glinda a mock salute, Glinda in turn glared at him and slid a finger across her throat, her threat from a month ago still fresh in his mind. He blanched and Elphaba sent a well formed glare to her friend. Glinda giggled at her friend's reaction as she watched Fiyero gently tug Elphaba into the carriage, pressing a soft kiss to the side of her neck. Elphaba giggled at the action and Glinda blinked, Elphaba _never _giggled, ever and it amazed her that it had been _Fiyero _to evoke that reaction. _

_ Glinda sighed as her friend entered the carriage with Fiyero. _

Maybe...they...deserve each other, _Glinda thought._

_ Although the next morning when Elphaba came back in the early stages of dawn, Glinda had been waiting in the living room. Elphaba had smiled sheepishly at Glinda and Glinda, who knew exactly what Elphaba and Fiyero had been doing last night, took one close observation of her friend's appearance and shrugged. Elphaba arched a shapely eyebrow at her friend's lack of response and staggered up the stairs. _

_ Upon reaching the top though, Glinda called, "Your skirt's backwards, Elphie."_

_ Elphaba blushed and straightened her skirt. _

_ Glinda giggled at her friend's action._

* * *

Elphaba, who had been on the receiving end of her friend's anger very few times, was quite assumed at the way Glinda's anger had presented itself on her friend. Her blonde curls were messed, her plump lip was curled and her eyes glowed with a fire that was bright enough to power the whole Emerald City. Elphaba sat back in the seat that Glinda had forced her down onto and merely smirked at the pacing blonde.

"Elphaba, what in Oz were you thinking?" Glinda exclaimed in her usual boisterous tone.

"I was thinking I was only agreeing to this sham to piss you to the core, _Glinny_," Elphaba joke

"Elphaba!" d. Glinda cried, evidently not at all amused by Elphaba's attempt at lightening the situation, "this is not funny! Do you have any idea what you're getting yourself into? Do you know what this implies about you?"

Elphaba crossed her arms. "Enlighten me, Glinda," Elphaba remarked bitterly, "because I was under the impression that this was _my _life and that _I _was in control."

"Elphaba!" Glinda screeched, "this isn't a game! You can't wear your heart on a sleeve!"

"I'm not!" Elphaba defended and she really wasn't wearing her heart on her sleeve, in her years after her and Fiyero's parting she had put in extra precautions to protect herself, although he, unknowingly, was able to tear down her defences with as single touch or whisper of an old nickname. Although, Elphaba didn't think that in her defence of Fiyero, that that particular point would put any votes in his favour.

"Oh, Elphaba!" Glinda cried once more, clearly in annoyance at her friend's lack of concern for her wellbeing in a situation like the one they were currently in, "in my years of knowing you, I have never seen you act like _this_."

"Like what, Glin?"

"Like a...pretentious slut!" Glinda exclaimed in a fit of rage, not noticing the recoil her friend did, "I mean really, first he—"

"Don't you dare, Glinda!" Elphaba retorted, whirling to her friend with vengeance, "don't you dare mention it, you didn't lose it, I did. Don't you dare talk about it like it was nothing, because it did mean something to me and _him, _and don't even _think _to convince me otherwise_. _Don't you dare think you have any idea what I've been going through these past few years! Just don't, I've had enough of it—"

"I can't believe your defending him!" Glinda shrieked and was on the verge of hysterics. She was livid and insulted that her friend had insinuated she knew better about relationships. Glinda _thought _she was the one that obviously knew better. Glinda had forayed into the world of dating and relationships at the tender age of fourteen. Glinda had transformed herself from an innocent, naïve and young socialite's daughter into a professional dater; able to make a man drop at his feet with one flutter of an eyelash, or a gentle teasing remark. And it always worked. Always. And when Glinda had become bored of the repetitive nature of her relationships, she'd dump them. Like yesterday's Ozmopolitan.

Glinda had always been the one to do the dumping. Except with one, and it peeved Glinda to no end. Especially to find out later that he was dating her best friend-housemate-confidant etcetera, and not only _dating, _but in a _stable _relationship with her, one in which, he loved her. Glinda, who had never claimed to have a case of the green-eyed monster in her life, was actually, during that point in her life, was jealous of Elphaba—her green roommate from Shiz that had been deprived of affection her whole life, but so willingly gave it to Fiyero. And Glinda hated the fact that Elphaba was the one to evoke that 'I'm _in_ love you' from him; he'd always said 'I love you' to Glinda and she'd revelled in that fact during their fleeting romance together, but it was always half-hearted and he seemed so distant when he said it. Glinda knew a breakup was on the verge, but she ignored the signs, wanting to believe that they were perfect together and born to be forever.

Her parents had always told her that. She would inevitably be married to Fiyero and become their crowning glory_. How wrong they were,_ Glinda thought a little too bitterly.

"Glinda, you're acting very childish," Elphaba told her gently, bringing Glinda out of her reverie, but then recoiled, remembering her friend's words. "You think I'm a pretentious slut?" Elphaba asked quietly.

Glinda gasped, her hands clasped over her mouth in befuddlement at her own words. "I didn't mean it, Elphie," she pleaded with her friend, "I mean, I'm just worried about you and—"

"I know, you care, Glin," Elphaba sighed, "but it doesn't make it hurt any less when you insult me."

"I'm sorry, Elphie," Glinda apologised sincerely, all her previous thoughts of anger and resentment towards her only true friend had dissipated in a flash. She should have known better though; during her childhood she had been thought upon as a curse and deprived of the love and affection Glinda had received from her family as a child. Elphaba's mother was a drunk, Elphaba had confided in Glinda one night at Shiz and her father had never associated himself with her; for green was the colour of sin in the eyes of the Unnamed God. "I didn't mean to insult you," Glinda tried again, "I really didn't, I was just jealous that..."

Elphaba cackled in such a manner that it made the chills run up Glinda's spine. "Jealous of what, my pretty? There's nothing to be jealous of."

"I was jealous that Fiyero picked you over me!"

"You're still holding that grudge?" Elphaba asked, clearly surprised, "that was years ago."

"I know, but at the time I was annoyed that he loved you. I mean, I know I think your beautiful, Elphaba, but"—Glinda looked her friend up and down—"you're not exactly the cover girl for Wiznique."

"I know that, but Glin," Elphaba said, "you are a wonderful woman, you're charming, beautiful and smart. There's no reason for you to be jealous of me."

"I know it was irrational," Glinda sniffed, "but I couldn't help it. Unattainable people are much more attractive once you know you can't have them."

"That's right," Elphaba whispered to herself.

Glinda, completely oblivious to her friend's statement, continued her former path of thought, "But honestly, Elphie, why are you doing this? I'm sure he could have found a fake fiancée anywhere else. Why you?"

"I know him well," Elphaba said simple, hoping the answer would stratify her friend. It didn't, and Glinda gestured for her friend to elaborate, "If he were to find any random on the street who didn't know him at all, then the sham would look exactly like that, a sham. But since I know him well, it wouldn't look as much like a sham. Am I making sense to you? I'm feeling so ineloquent today."

"It sounds fine and I get it, but one thing has been bothering me, Elphie."

"What's that?"

"What do you get in return?" Glinda asked, "Fiyero gets his crown and kingdom, but what could be worth more than that?"

"Freedom," Elphaba replied wistfully.

"I see," Glinda said, "but the question still remains."

"What?" Elphaba asked nervously, knowing where this path of questioning was going to end.

"Do you want to be set free?"

"Of course I do." _Liar. _

**XoxoX**

"Elpha!" Fiyero called from the end of the hallway, "I see Glinda didn't kill you."

"I barely made it out with my life," she joked, "and here I thought you were my knight-in-shining-armour coming to rescue me."

"Your words wound me, fair maiden," he cried out overdramatically, placing a hand over his heart and bringing himself onto one knee, "how shall I ever make it up to you."

Elphaba giggled childishly at the impish grin Fiyero was sending her way. "For starters you could stop talking in that ridiculous accent. Secondly, get off the floor and thirdly..." she pondered, "I don't have a third."

He jumped up from his position on the floor and tugged on her hand; she gasped and pulled her hand from his; as if she'd just been burnt.

"I'm sorry," was all he said.

"It's fine, I'm just..."

He cut her off, "You don't need to explain yourself to me, you never did before, so why now?"

"No, let me finish," she told him she glanced at the maid that had scurried past, "somewhere more private."

"Follow me," he said and clasped her fingers in his again. This time she didn't pull away or gasp. This time her mouth curled into a sweet smile that showed the upper part of her pearly whites. And his heart melted. However, what he didn't realise was that that one particular smile was especially reserved for him. Always has, always will be.

**XoxoX**

They'd made it into Fiyero's old bedroom from his youth. And Elphaba drank in the very essence of what it was. Old film posters were lined against the wall, a well-kept bookshelf with a somewhat tidy desk and an old coat rack that held a well-loved and well-used tatty coat. There was an adjoining bathroom and longue area with another well-stocked bookshelf, which made Elphaba's eyes gleam at the prospect of reading whilst here.

"If you think that's good you should check out the library," he commented offhandedly whilst settling himself on the four-poster bed.

"Why didn't you show me that first?' she cried.

"I forgot?" he tried meekly and then grinned playfully. "Come on, Elpha, we're getting married. We should acquaint ourselves with the bed," he suggested.

"If you try and make me become acquainted with the bed," she declared menacingly, leaning towards him close that he could feel her chest heave with every breath and he could, if he wanted to, flip her over and straddle her. Although he was certain that if he did that, she'd probably do something to a _certain_ part of his anatomy that would never allow him to have children again. And even though she was most likely going to insult or threaten him, he was so turned on at the moment.

"You'll do what?" he teased, his fingers dancing down towards her—, but she stopped it. He frowned.

"You touch my ass," she threatened and moved closer to ever so-slightly straddle his thighs, "or try and get me acquainted with the bed; I'll cut your balls off during your sleep."

"Anything to get you into my bed," he said lowly and in a tone that made Elphaba's stomach flutter and her heart to beat that extra more, and now she was turned on. _Stop it! Whatever made you turn into a hormonal female? _She asked herself, but she already had the answer, _him. _

She shook the thoughts from her head and removed herself from his lap, which he was about to protest at, but stopped short. Preferring to ask her what it was she wanted to discuss.

"So you wanted to talk..." he began, awkwardly ignoring his desire to pin her to the pillows and yank her dress from her body.

"Yes," Elphaba said, finding her voice, "it's about my parents."

"You worried about the fact they'll think its pretence because—"

"No," he gave her _the _look. Elphaba sighed, "Maybe a little, only because they don't care."

"I don't follow," he admitted, "they're your parents and they love you."

"That's the problem!" she cried, jumping off the bed, "they don't love me!"

"What?" now Fiyero was _severely _confused, "I don't understand."

"Of course you don't, your parents love you," Fiyero was about to interject when Elphaba cut him off, "and don't you dare say you're father doesn't love you. He does, just in his own twisted, strange way."

"I wasn't going to say that," he told her gently, moving to face her, tipping her chin to face him. "You are a wonder to me and beautiful in every way possible. Any mother and father would be lucky to have you as a daughter and even if your parents don't love you. You needn't worry; you have Glinda, Nessa and me," he told her sincerely bringing her knuckles to his lips and rubbing reassuring circles around them.

She gasped at the sincerity of his words, but accepted them, she had been starved of affection through her whole life and it was sweet to hear such kind words from him.

"Thank you," she whispered, bringing herself closer into him, "thank you so much."

"You're welcome," he told her, putting an arm around her shoulder. _What did I do to deserve you? _He thought as she snuggled in closer to him. _Something good..._

* * *

_**Four Years and Seven Months Ago **_

_ "Yero?" Elphaba asked drowsily from under the sheets._

_ "Yes, Fae?" he replied tracing circles on her shoulder with his thumb. _

_ "Do you love me?" _

_ "Of course," he told her kissing her softly and his eyes bore into hers in that moment. "I'll love you till the end of time," he assured her. _

_ "What did I do to deserve you?" she asked, pushing a piece of unrelenting hair from his brow. _

_ "I think you've you that the wrong away around, love," he told her kissing her temple. _

_ "Something good..." she muttered sleepily. _

_ "I agree, something good," he whispered sweetly in her ear before she fell into a blissful sleep with a small grin plastered on her face._

* * *

Lyra, Brilly, Harold and Elphaba's parents, had found them curled under the sheets together, with their clothes still fully intact. Elphaba was curled protectively into Fiyero's chest and he had an arm slung around her shoulders. Lyra sighed at the romantic scene it made, one that reminded her of one from the epic love story of _First Impressions. _Brilly curled into her husband and told him, "They're perfect together," and even though Harold was a bit of a cynic when it came to emotional moments, could do nothing, but agree with his wife and slung an arm around his wife's shoulders in a near perfect mirror image of the young couple lying in bed.

Frex and Melena's reactions were a far cry from those of the Vinkun Sovereign. Frex had always believed Elphaba would care for Nessa when she grew up, but now seeing her with this _boy, _any hopes of Elphaba sticking to his well-thought out plan had vanished. And he seethed. She was a sin, the colour of it too in the eyes of the Unnamed God. Melena, who was still slightly tipsy from her afternoon drink, seethed along with her husband, as she glanced towards the couple. _Something needed to be done, _Melena thought out, and she had the perfect plan to make sure that Elphaba never saw the aisle.

* * *

**A/N: I never intented for Melena to be a drunk or evil, but that's how she turned out. Sorry if no one likes that. **

**Confusifyed Lady, dang I've missed you girl, love you lots and lots thanks for the reviews, my pretty.**

**ChaoticSymphonyofDarkness, you're too kind and I do think attack of the Pinkified Glinda was an accurate discriptor. Thanks.**

**FFN was acting up so some of the formating is a bit weird, sorry. **

**Larri (Beautifully Tragic)**

**smiles**

**x**

**ps. Reviews are appreciated. **


	10. Chapter 9: Machiavellian Tendencies

**Disclaimer: If I did own Wicked Lea Michele would not even be _considered_ for the role of Elphaba.**

**A/N: Yeah, sorry about the delay, I returned from a funeral the other day and I was kind of depressed and pissed at the same time. Then I couldn't login or review, so sorry about that. **

**Moving one, HOLY SHIZ! I was not expecting that many reviews and I when I saw them. Nine! **

**Huge thank yous to,** **ComingAndGoingByBubble, Elphiefied, ChaoticSymphonyofDarkness, DhampyrX2, Confusifyed Lady, Lyra124, XxQueenElphabaOfTheWestxX and FlorenceAndTheMachineFan for your wondeful reviews. **

**Now, I'm not entirely happy with that chapter, I think I went into a bit of crack too much and the characteristions were really off. Sorry, this is not me fishing for praise or review. Honestly.**

**Anyways, Enjoy.**

* * *

**Chapter 9**

**Machiavellian Tendencies **

There were three things Elphaba noticed when she woke up. One, she was in bed. Two, she was in bed with _Fiyero. _And three, she _liked _it. Elphaba Thropp liked being in bed with Fiyero Tiggular. And it scared the hell out of her. She was ready to bolt; run for the hills and never return. All because she _liked _the feeling of her _ex-_boyfriend's arm wrapped securely around her waist and his intoxicating scent that had no adequate descriptors that would do it justice. And in that moment she wanted to run, not only from the moment, but him as well.

"Oz, I hate you," she mumbled to him, but he stirred beside her and she gasped. Had he heard her words? Had he woken? But neither applied to the situation, he had merely stirred and pulled on Elphaba's waist and brought her closer to him, shocking her. She didn't do anything. She froze. It wasn't like to her to do anything like this. She was Elphaba Thropp, with a tongue to match her wit and able to make a man blanch with one look. She was not meant to act lovesick or like the feeling of her ex wrapped around her and she was certainly not meant to think that his actions were a subconscious reaction to her body. _No_, she denied, _he is not in love with me, nor is his body reacting this way to mine. It was a mere coincidence that tugged on my waist...and I am most certainly _not _in love with him and I will not fall again. _How naïve she was to believe this.

**XoxoX**

"This was certainly...unexpected," Nessa told her sister, "I never thought you two would...recover from your little..._mishap_."

"Well we did and yeah..." Elphaba scratched her head sheepishly.

"So you two are...?" Nessa asked blushing and heat flooded to Elphaba's cheeks at the insinuation, but didn't deny or confess it, not knowing the answer to the question.

"It's good to see you," Elphaba told her sister sincerely, "how are you and Boq?"

Nessa brightened at the mention to her love's name. "He's wonderful!" she cried turning her wheelchair to face Elphaba, "we've just been getting to know each other more and more and it's just all sorts of wonderful."

"I'm glad you like him," Elphaba said kissing her sister's hairline, "I'm happy for you." And Elphaba genuinely was. Even though Nessa had been showered with affection in their childhood, Elphaba had found love first, which surprised them both. And even though they were always expecting Nessa to find it first, Elphaba did and to this day it still surprises them both.

"Nessa?" A voice called and Elphaba's smiled faded.

"Nessarose?" Frexspar Thropp called throughout the library.

"I better be going," Elphaba stood, "I don't think father would want to see me."

"Oh, Fabala," Nessa cried empathically. "I'm sure father's fine with you getting married and to someone of status," Nessa added proudly.

"I'm not worried about that though..." Elphaba trailed off, "Father's never wanted me to move to the Emerald City, he's wanted me to stay at Colwen Grounds and look after you when you inevitably become Governor."

"But Fabala, you're going to be a Princess," Nessa cried, outraged that her sister would think such a wicked thing about their father, "I'm sure he just wants you to be happy and you're going to be Queen one day."

"Oh Oz," Elphaba moaned she hadn't even thought that far ahead yet. She was just getting used to everyone referring to her as Fiyero's fiancée, she hadn't even thought about the politics yet. She would be the Crown-Princess and inevitable Queen. Oh Oz, what she was going to do?

"What, Fabala?" Nessa asked curiously.

"I'm going to be Queen..." she trailed off, staring blankly into space.

"We established that fact already," Nessa said, "you haven't thought about it?"

Elphaba shook her head.

"Oh..." was all Nessa said and took in her sister's expression. It was full of confusion, anxiety and a tinge of...sadness...? _Something's going on..._

**XoxoX**

"Elphie!" Glinda squealed running up towards her friend.

Elphaba winced at her friend's...'Glinda-ness'. "Glin, how many times have I told you," Elphaba said, "inside voice or no voice at all."

"Sorry, Elphie, but I have thrillifying news."

"Thrillifying isn't even a word..." Elphaba muttered.

"Minor details," Glinda waved off, "but guess what? Wait don't guess, I've managed to persuade Lyra into helping me plan the wedding. Isn't that great?"

"No!" Elphaba shuddered; she could only imagine what those two would get up to together...Oh Oz. She could practically taste all the pink and sugar..._Oz! _"You are _not _planning my wedding and Fiyero and I haven't even set a date yet and"—she glanced around—"you know it's a sham, then why are you so...exuberant about it?"

"Well, I'm your best friend and even if it pretence, you need to make it look real..." Glinda said and she glanced around making sure no one was in sight, "and if that means I have to pretend to be the doting friend super excited for your wedding. So be it, even if I do hate him..."

Elphaba looked at her friend curiously. "Glin, after all my years of knowing you, I'd like to think I can read you, but one thing has been niggling at her for the past year."

"What, Elphie?"

"Why do you hate, Fiyero?" Elphaba asked, at her friend's curious glance, Elphaba clarified, "I mean more than you did before. I mean, when we first slept together and you found us, you yelled at him a bit and then left, you didn't really care as long as I was happy, but now, you completely..._loathe _him. Pure unadulterated loathing. So my question is; what did he do?"

Glinda blanched.

* * *

_**One Year and Seven Months Ago **_

_ "Glin?" Elphaba sniffled, "why hasn't he come back?"_

_ "I don't know, my pretty," Glinda said smoothing her friend's hair out. This was a new side to Elphaba she'd never seen. In the past week she'd gone through countless tissue boxes and had not moved one inch from her bed. It was a new sight for Glinda to see her friend so weak, helpless and dare she say it...vulnerable. And it nearly made Glinda regret her actions two weeks ago...almost. "I don't know why he hasn't come back, but if he doesn't, so be it. You deserve a lot better than him."_

_ "I know!" Elphaba cried, blowing her nose. "But I still want him, even if he is an ass for some of it. I don't know," Elphaba said flatly her voice void of any emotion. "I don't know Glin. Something just clicked with him, a spark. I honestly never expected it, heck, I didn't expect him to even _consider _going on a date with _me. _Me, of all people he could have. He picked me. And I was happy, Glin, I was so happy and this happens and he hasn't returned anything. Calls, messages anything. All he said was, 'take as long as you need' and he was referring to my _job! _Of all things to worry about, he worries about my job!" _

_ "Yes," Glinda said distractedly, "but, Elphie, you deserve so much better than him. He's an ass."_

_ That did nothing to comfort Elphaba, who only cried harder. _

_ "Oh, Elphie!" Glinda said, small shards of guilt piercing her heart, "listen to me, one day you'll find someone more wonderful than Fiyero and you'll be happy again. You'll see."_

_ "If someone can look past the skin," Elphaba remarked bitterly, "Glin, _he _was wonderful, he didn't care about the skin. He just...loved me...no pretence, he didn't ask for anything else. He just loved me...and I loved him, I still do."_

_ The guilt was continuing to pile up against Glinda's conscience. "I'm sure you'll make it through. You're strong."_

_ Elphaba gave a humourless laugh. "If I'm so strong, why do I feel so weak? It's the world's twisted sense of irony," she remarked sadistically, "I prided myself on my independence and when life throws me an obstacle I'm a wreck. I don't know what to do anymore, it's like the world has stopped or something and I just...want and need him, Glin. I can't do this alone."_

_ The guilt was threatening to take Glinda under, hearing Elphaba, strong, independent Elphaba talk of needing someone was too much for her. It was something Glinda never expected to hear and it shattered her heart to pieces seeing her friend so broken. And Glinda hated it, Elphaba was meant to be the strong on out of them, the one doing the comforting because Elphaba _knew _what she was harping on about for half the time. Glinda had not experience in consolation of others, she was inexperienced and it scared her knowing it was up to _her _to comfort Elphaba. It was up to Glinda to help her friend through this traumatic experience, when she knew it was a lost cause. Glinda knew who should be comforting Elphaba, it was the one person who had vowed never to return. And Glinda hated herself for it. _

_ "Oh, Elphie," Glinda said, needing to make Elphaba and her conscience a great deal better, "you mustn't think that way, Fiyero will come." _

_ Her friend brightened immediately at the prospect. "Really, Glin?" she asked like a small child, "You really think so?" _

_ Glinda chuckled nervously, not wanting to dissipate her friend's happiness yet. The childish glee that shone in Elphaba's eyes made Glinda want to turn the clocks back and revisit that fateful scene. Make it right. Make everything okay. _

_ "Of course," Glinda lied, knowing Fiyero wasn't coming back. Glinda knew it, and she knew why. It was all her fault after all, but she didn't have the heart or courage to tell Elphaba. So she allowed her friend to continue her self-depreciation, allowed her to think it was all her fault; her fault that he left; her fault that she'd lost, when in actuality it was hers. The guilt piled one on top of the other and Glinda wanted nothing, but to apologise to her friend and confess. But she didn't, and Glinda never forgave herself for it._

* * *

"I have my reasons, Elphaba," Glinda told her in a tone that clearly said 'drop it'.

Elphaba arched a thin eyebrow, but said nothing. She was always too curious. Although the usage of her full name on Glinda's lips had a foreign ring to her ears.

**XoxoX**

Frexspar and Melena Thropp were scheming...no, that sounded too...wicked, they were _directing _a plan. Yes, directing sounded a lot less inconspicuous. They were directing a plan as to how to convince that dim-witted fool of a Prince to drop...no, _leave _their green daughter for another. He seemed flighty enough, Frex had said and Melena had replied with 'Elphaba's so insecure, a few seeds of insecurity and she'll be running for the hills.'

"Are you this is going to work?" Frex asked worriedly, "because I don't want to be a laughing stock when I return to Munchkinland."

Melena slapped her husband on the forehead. "It's a fool proof plan, a mere_ child_ _could_ do it, you dolt!"

"Are you insinuating I am a child?" Frex asked his wife.

"You said it, I didn't," Melena huffed, "but this is fool proof. It's quite simple. Boy meets girl, boy gets engaged to girl, boy meets another girl and leaves previous girl."

Frex thought long and hard about this, to the point where he looked he might pop a vein.

"Don't strain yourself, dear," Melena added the 'dear' patronisingly.

"I'm not," he insisted. "I'm thinking, who will we use though? I mean I don't have many contacts and you...well..." he glanced up and down at his wife. "Aren't exactly the friendliest of creatures..."

"But, dear, I have it all covered," Melena told her husband, "Remember Lacie from the Gillikin?"

"Yes, but isn't she like Gl—Gali—Glinda's third cousin or something?" Frex asked, "wouldn't that be awkward?"

"That's what makes my plan so brilliant though!" Melena cried out, sending a shiver down her husband's spine, "it might be awkward, but she'd very attractive and she's said to be great...if you catch my drift, Frexie-dear."

Frex winced at the nickname his wife had given him during her inhibited state. "One question."

"What?" Melena demanded.

"How are we actually going to get Fiyero to cheat on Elphaba?" Frex asked his wife cautiously, "I mean he must love her an awful lot to be able to stand that verdigris."

"Easy...he's a man, they have needs and you know...Frexie..." Melena drifted off waggling her eyebrows.

"Oh," was all Frex said, "One more question."

"Good Oz!" Melena cried out, "you ask too many questions! Just stick with the freaking plan and deal with it. It's not mission impossible!"

"Yes, what's the plan again?" Frex asked his wife sheepishly.

She slapped his forehead again. Hard. "Fiyero meets Lacie; Fiyero cheats on Elphaba with Lacie. They call off the engagement. It's simplistic; a mere child could conduct this!"

"Yes," a voice called from the doorway. "Scheming against my brother without my assistance, this will certainly not do..." Christopher tsked. "This will not do, everyone knows you need an inside man and I am the man for that..."

"And what do you have to offer?" Melena asked greedily.

"Just insider's knowledge," he offered, "nothing more."

"Oh do, tell..." Melena said.

"Well..." Christopher began.

**XoxoX**

"What you reading?" Elphaba asked Lyra when in the library. Honestly, she had never seen so many books in her life. The Vinkun Royal family's library could rival the one at Shiz and most likely win in that case. Shelves and shelves were lined with books and all different sorts. Classic literature, encyclopaedias, non-fiction, fiction, science textbooks and so much more, Elphaba would have gladly spent the rest of her days there.

"The Life and Times of the Shameless Sorcerer of the South," Lyra answered not looking up.

"Is it any good?" Elphaba asked, attempting to make conversation, she was never good at small talk.

"It's so depressifying," Lyra complained dragging out the 'depressifying', marking her page.

"What's it about?" Elphaba asked.

"It's about the life of the Sorceress of The South, Elfana Thripp and the trials and tribulations she faced in being the Sorceress of the South."

"Where are you up to?" Elphaba asked, curious as to where this novel was headed.

"Her lover's just died," Lyra marked sadly, "and it was so depressifying, all she saw when she came back is a massive ass pile of blood in the Wheat Exchange! So freaking sad!"

And here Elphaba was thinking she could have a half-intellectual conversation with her. How wrong Elphaba was. "If you hate it so much, why don't you stop reading it?"

"University dictates we must read this," Lyra said. "So I'm listening to what they say," she huffed.

"Okay..." Elphaba said trailing off.

"But enough about me; how are you?" Lyra said brightly and in that perky, bubbly tone that Glinda always used on her.

"I'm fine," Elphaba answered shortly. It was official—she hated small talk.

"Oh..." was all Lyra said and paused before speaking again. "Look I'm sorry about yesterday."

"What do you have to apologise for?" Elphaba asked.

"About asking all those questions about your relationship with my brother, it's just I've never had a meaningful relationship and I want to know what it feels like," Lyra admitted to the green girl.

"No need to apologise for that," Elphaba told her, "I've had worse; you should have seen Glinda's interrogation of me when I started dating him."

Lyra brightened. "I can imagine that," and giggled, "So how do you like Kiamo Ko?"

"It's..." Elphaba looked for the right word, as prolific as she was she couldn't find an adequate descriptor for Kiamo Ko, "...large."

Lyra giggled. "I can imagine it's a new change for you."

Elphaba nodded. "So what are you studying at Shiz?"

"Majoring in Ozian Literature with a minor in politics," she told Elphaba proudly.

"Very good, is Doctor Dillamond still around?" Elphaba asked, thinking fondly of her old History/Life Sciences professor from years ago.

"Yes, that old goat can never stop harping on about the past though," Lyra said.

Elphaba chuckled; Glinda said something similar the first day of classes. Of course she was still known as Galinda then and was a complete ditz.

"It's nice to know he's still there," Elphaba smiled.

"Speaking of nice," Lyra said leaning towards Elphaba, "how's the wedding planning going?"

Elphaba choked. "I haven't really thought about it yet," she answered truthfully.

"What?" Lyra screeched, "how can you not? You're getting married! Every little girl dreams of their wedding day! What girl didn't?"

"Green ones," Elphaba deadpanned.

"Oh, Elphie!" Lyra squealed and Elphaba cringed, apparently she had also adopted that ridiculous nickname Glinda was insistent on. "You musn't think that way, your whole life is about to change!"

"Can you turn the decibels down a bit?" Elphaba asked.

Lyra glanced away sheepishly, "Sorry, I tend to get overexcited a lot."

"I figured," Elphaba muttered to herself.

"I want to find a love like yours and Fiyero," Lyra commented to herself offhandedly.

"Excuse me?" Elphaba asked.

"What?" Lyra asked, "like yours and Fiyero's. It's just all sorts of romantic."

"How?" Elphaba asked dumbly, losing any eloquence she had.

"Have you not seen his face when you walk into the room?" Lyra said.

Elphaba shook her head and Lyra gasped.

"Then I must tell you," Lyra squealed. "It's like the rest of Oz melts away and you're the only thing he's looking at. His eyes light up and you are his entire universe and when he talks about you, he gets this funny look in his eyes as if he's trying to envision you. And you look at him the same way too, except sometimes I think you're trying to mentally undress each other. It's so mystifying to watch and romantic..." Lyra trailed off with a giggle.

"I have to go..." Elphaba said standing hastily and bolting from the room, leaving a very confused Lyra in her wake.

"You're welcome..."

**XoxoX**

_No,_ Elphaba cried to herself, _no, no, no!_ This wasn't supposed to be happening. She was not meant to look at him in the way Lyra described to her and he certainly was not meant to either. This was only a business deal. Nothing less and certainly nothing more. She was _not_ meant to feel that fluttery excitement in her stomach when he touched her. She was _not_ meant to be thrilled whenever he called her by that _damned _nickname. And she certainly was not meant to fall in love with him. Again.

She wouldn't allow it. She couldn't. She wouldn't and she shouldn't. So if that is so, why did she _want _it?

Elphaba ran her hands down her face. This whole façade, pretence, shame, whatever it was, was worth too much effort entirely. But a small insignificant part of her told her otherwise. Needless to say she crushed that part immediately.

* * *

**Right, that wasn't too horrible was it? I didn't intend for Frex and Melena to be that OOC, but I was very fun to write them like that. Oh, and thanks for all your suggestions. They really helped. Slow updates from now on...too much bloody schoolwork. **

**DhampyrX2, thanks for the idea. I'll keep it in mind.**

**Confusifyed Lady, love you lots and lots too Miri! I think slow updates from now on...too much bloody school work!**

**FlorenceAndTheMachineFan, thanks for the wonderful review. I hope you enjoy the rest of the story.**

**Larri**

**smiles**

**x**


	11. Chapter 10: Just For This Moment

**Disclaimer: Not Mine...I think I've heard that somewhere...**

**A/N: I was so close to writing smut. That's all you need to know for now and extra-long chapter.**

* * *

**Chapter 10**

**Just For This Moment **

"Oh, Elphie," Fiyero moaned at Elphaba's ministrations on him and his eyelids closed, but not before Elphaba sent him a playful glare.

"Call me 'Elphie' and I stop," she told him seriously whilst moving herself to straddle his hips.

"No Elphie then, Fae," he said automatically, not wanting her to stop. At all. He glanced up at her again. He was fairly certain that was Glinda's white blouse she was wearing, it dipped that little extra bit, just enough for him to see the top of her lacy bra, but not enough that he could imagine the hidden treasures lying underneath that teasing shirt. And that skirt, was _certainly _Glinda's. Elphaba, who was a good six inches taller than her friend, was wearing Glinda's skirt. That meant another six inches of slender thigh exposed for his mind to fantasise about. To touch. To savour. _Oz, _he wanted her. Badly. Although the last straw for him was the hair, it wasn't meant to look erotic or seductive, but it did. Her usual meticulous curls had fallen from their braid and were splayed against her back like an ebony waterfall. And there was that one tress that refused to stay behind her ear, no matter Elphaba's insistence on it.

She sent him another play-seductive-charming grin before kissing up the smooth column of his neck towards his earlobe. Once reaching her destination, she switched directions and pressed soft kisses along his jawline. He moaned at the action and her fingers began to undo his shirt. _She was very...bold at the moment_, he thought as her hands ran down his bare chest, tracing the intricate diamond pattern that adorned his chest along the way.

Although before she could continue teasing him like she had planned to upon entrance to their bedroom in Kiamo Ko, he turned the tables on her. Literally. She was now pinned underneath him, with him resting between her shapely legs and her skirt hitched to her waist. She glared at him, but her chocolate orbs were clouded with such lust and desire that he was so tempted to rip the clothes from her body and make love to her until she recited his name to the heavens. No matter how much he wanted to, he wanted to savour this moment. She was special. She always had been. So without further ado, he popped a button off her and attacked her collarbone and neck with such fervour that she allowed a half-strangled moan to escape her lips.

He continued along the graceful curvature of her neck, running his hands along her thin body. Her back arched into his touch and his fingers found the edge of her blouse and ran his hands along the smooth emerald flesh of her abdomen. Her teeth sunk into her lower lip and she gripped the sheets behind her. He internally smirked at the reaction she was having towards him; amused that he could still invoke that reaction from her after all these years. It was like the first time, except better.

Her heels dug into the small of his back and pressed him closer to her, making the space between their bodies non-existent. He grinned at her action and pressed a kiss to her newly exposed flesh along her abdomen. She let another guttural moan leave her lips, but he silenced her with a kiss to her mouth. He pulled away slightly to look down at her. Azure bore into chocolate and she blinked under her thick lashes. Once. Twice. Thrice. Her eyes glowed from the sliver of moonlight through the window, her ebony curls were fanned out under her and those thick lashes were the tipping point. They were taunting. They teased. And Oz, she was gorgeous. How he missed her like that.

He inwardly groaned. She looked so innocent like that. So Ozdamned innocent, but she was far from it. _Lurline!_ If he'd told her the things she did to him without trying. Oz, she'd turn the most unrefined shade of cerise. Her whole body would flush, even her ears, Fiyero had noticed once. But when she intentionally teased him...Lurline save him.

"Are you going to tease me all night?" she asked seductively, her voice just above a whisper.

"Maybe..." he answered slyly, running his hands to the waistband of her skirt.

She uttered a throaty moan and he tugged down the skirt and she kicked it off the bed.

"Why, Master Fiyero," she said, adopting the ancient title from the Vinkun language. "You have far too many layers of clothing on," she remarked, finishing her handiwork from before and sliding his unbuttoned shirt from his shoulders.

"And you have too little," he teased, "I am certainly not complaining. Less is more and I personally believe you look better without anything at all."

"Tease."

"Seductress," he answered against her mouth. "I can't believe you though," his hands skimmed along the edge of her underwear and he grinned. "Practical are we?"

"Cotton is comfortable," was all she said, but she was feeling particularly bold as she ran her toe up his thigh.

"Fae..." he ground out, "who's the tease now?"

"I don't see you trying to stop me," she told him harmlessly.

"You are a tease," he accused and muttered something under his breath that sounded like, "and a good one."

She grinned. "Oh," she mocked, but lovingly, "have I hurt Yero's poor ego?"

He cocked an eyebrow, before pouncing on her. Pinning her underneath him, she wriggled and squirmed, trying to remove herself from his tight embrace without much avail.

"You are one _wicked _woman, Fae," he said, kissing up the valley of her breasts "You are a tease"—he plastered kisses along her neck—"You are a seductress"—kisses along her jawline—"and you are too beautiful for your own good"—and he finally descending down upon her lips.

"Me? Beautiful?" she scoffed, but it came out a half-squeal. "I think you need your contacts checked."

"My vision is twenty-twenty, Fae, the sarcasm is not appreciated. You wicked, awful girl, you have to be punished."

Her mouth twisted into lopsided smile. Half her mouth was pointed up, whilst the other was curved down. And, Oz, it made her look a hundred times sexier. He was in real trouble now.

"Punished how?" she asked, running the tips of her fingers along his shoulder and up his neck.

"I have a few ideas," he said, kissing down the thin plane of her stomach towards and unclasped the offending piece of material that encased her breasts. Her hands gripped the sheets tighter and pressed her legs against his waist. Her breath hitched significantly as he ran a hand over her breast before continuing to kiss his way down to meet the edge of her underwear.

"This is punishment?" she gasped out sceptically. He ran his forefinger up along a well-rounded thigh and his finger followed the curve of her underwear.

"No, this is," he said moving his mouth towards her hip and pulling the most offending piece of material he had seen down with his teeth.

Elphaba's mind began to lose all sense of consciousness as Fiyero kissed up her leg. It was sheer euphoria. And they hadn't done anything yet! Her mind was spinning from Fiyero's induction of close euphoria and her evident arousal, which she could feel on herself. She was like a coil. Winding around itself tightly, but there was only so much tension a coil could handle before it crashed down on itself and broke.

Fiyero grinned at his actions. Sure, he was a tease and a bit of a manipulative bastard to get what he wanted, but it worked well enough. Every cry, whimper and moan from Elphaba, only goaded him on. He continued his sensual exploration of her leg. The emerald skin enhancing her beauty and he made a mental note to never let anyone else see her like this. _Naked, gorgeous and just plain wonderful. _As his mouth neared her thigh he sensed the essence of something sweet, something he needed. As he climbed higher and higher, Elphaba was finding it increasingly difficult to contain her moans, cries and whimpers.

"Oh...Fiyero..." she cried out richly, her body twisting itself around the sheets, that coil of hers was about to break. The tension had worn itself out. She wanted—no, _needed_ him. Now.

And he was so close, so near and—

Fiyero Tiggular, CEO of Tiggular Book and Crown Prince of The Vinkus, woke up in a sweat. He ran a hand through his sleep mused hair. He had a sex dream. A sex dream about his former girlfriend; he'd had a sex dream about his former girlfriend, who was also his current assistant, an assistant who would ravenously murder him and hide the evidence so well that even Sherlock Oz wouldn't be able to solve his case if she ever found out about his dream. Oz, if she even caught a whiff of him having a sex dream about her, she would do all the above. No questions asked.

It was official, he hated, no, correction loathed Elphaba Melena Thropp. Even if they weren't together anymore, she was still able to invade him dreams and sleep. And Oz he hated it, when she did, she was usually scantily clad and the next day he couldn't even look, let alone talk to her. On those days when he sent for her, he made sure to be behind his desk if he did need to talk to her and then send for a glass of iced water_. Extra ice_. Oz, his dreams about her were certainly vivid and he remembered every detail of them. Lurline! And she was sleeping right beside him! It was a wonder she had not woken. She looked so peaceful as well, with not a care in the world. And once again, it was official, Lurline hated men. Oz, how is it he remembered how his ex looked naked; he'd even remembered the beauty mark on her right breast, after nearly two years of not seeing her like _that_, but he couldn't remember where his reading glasses were half the time.

No, screw the important things for him like financial figures and employee salaries. Give him his ex in nothing but her bra and underwear (or nothing at all) and his eidetic memory came into play. Like images permanently burned into his mind. No, there was nothing wrong with that _at _all.

It was all the same though, the smoothness of her emerald flesh. The coiling tension within her body that was ready to snap in a moment. Her guttural moans that escaped her lips at his ministrations on her body, there was nothing that satisfied him more. Her naked body arching into him as she—

_No! Bad Fiyero!, _he scolded himself mentally. Their little agreement was nothing more than a business deal. Nothing at all.

_Now,_ he told himself as he swept the quilt off him, _I shall go down to the kitchen for breakfast_. He looked down at his obvious arousal from his dream. He groaned. _Damn her. Damn you, Elphaba-Ozdamned-Thropp. Damn you, you're too sexy for your own good and you don't even know it. _

He needed a cold shower, but corrected himself quickly when he heard Elphaba sigh from the bed and roll onto his pillow. That did _nothing _to stabilise his libido. And even though she was one of the most unattainable women in Oz, he wanted nothing, but to wake her and make love to her all over again like before. But he didn't. She wasn't his girlfriend anymore, he could not and should not, and if he did, in the best case scenario, she'd kill him. _That _would certainly go down well. But it didn't help him from wanting her, knowing the odds of her returning his feelings was a million to one. Although a small sliver of hope allowed him to think that she was that one.

He cursed as he heard Elphaba give another half-moan and sigh. He needed a cold shower, correction; he didn't need a cold shower. He needed a shower that would freeze him over.

**XoxoX**

"Oh, Lacie," Melena cried to the Gillikinese Girl, pressing kisses to both her cheeks. Lacie Upland, not of the Upper Uplands though, much to her dismay, was a petite, young girl, with a figure most women would kill for. Men had flocked to her side from the tender age of twelve and her mother had been so excited. Her father, on the other hand, had grown weary about his only daughter and allowed her to do as she pleased. Her mother was a simple trophy wife that her father had snatched up the chance he got in his youth. If either spouse died there would have been no love lost, it would have simply meant there was more money for the other. Her blond curls were dyed, although she frequently denied this claim, stating that she was an Upland, therefore all their hair was blonde and therefore natural. However, Glinda Upland of the Upper Uplands was the only Upland to have been blessed with the natural blonde curls.

"Melena Thropp," she greeted curtly, "so lovely to hear from you again."

"Yes, it is, isn't it," Melena said, shaking the girl's hand, "how's the Gillikin?"

"Dreadfully boring," Lacie moaned, "it's all the same, party, ball, party, ball, the occasional one night stand and then back to its former trend."

"So, you wouldn't mind helping me with a little situation...?" Melena asked the petite blonde.

"Issue? What kind of issue?" Lacie asked, daintily sipping her tea.

"Well, my daughter, you remember Elphaba?" Melena asked with a tint of distain.

"How could I not?" Lacie remarked cynically. Remembering the time that certain Elphaba Thropp had embarrassed her in front of the Wizard himself by 'accidentally' spilling grape juice on her brand new Louis Wizzon dress, Lacie had never forgive the green girl for the incident. "She embarrassed me in front of Oz's most important social circles that I would have inevitably become a part of." She tossed her artificial curls back.

"Yes, that girl always knew how to make a spectacle of herself," Melena spat, "but back to business, my daughter, Elphaba, is getting married."

Lacie laughed maliciously, "To what? Who is certainly out of the question, the poor guy must be either blind or under some sort of spell," Lacie remarked.

"Yes," was all Melena said. "Although it does seem he is quite smitten with her. The poor boy..." Melena trailed off thoughtfully.

"What poor soul has been brought into dearest Elphaba's 'charm?'" Lacie asked with quotation marks.

"CEO of Tiggular Books and Crown Prince of the Vinkus, Oz's playboy extraordinaire himself, Fiyero Tiggular," Melena answered to Lacie.

Lacie laughed again, "Wait, _the _Fiyero Tiggular? The Fiyero Tiggular that started with own company at age twenty-four and has slept with more women than humanly possible?"

"The very one," Melena asked, "I've asked you here because I have a mission for you."

"As long as it involves that man I'll do anything," Lacie said dazed. It was Ozdamned, Fiyero Tiggular; voted Ozmopolitan's most eligible bachelor from age nineteen to age twenty-six, until he dropped out of the running because he's met a girl and therefore wasn't considered eligible anymore. What a pity though, the winners after he left though was nowhere near as delicious as he.

"Good, I have enlisted the help of Fiyero's brother Christopher to try and..." Melena searched for the right words, "_...drive _them apart. Elphaba is green as sin and she should never marry. It is the Unnamed God's colour of sin, green, it signifies wickedness and evil. She does not deserve happiness."

"Do continue," Lacie said with a malevolent gleam in her eyes.

"Well, first we..." Melena began.

**XoxoX**

* * *

_**Fourteen Years Ago**_

_A fifteen-year-old Elphaba Thropp peered through the Quox Wood doors and took once glance at the party happening in her mother and father's ballroom. She and Nessa had been sent up to their rooms and told not to bother the adults mingling downstairs. Nessa was only twelve and had promptly fallen asleep as soon as the time clock struck nine. As soon, Elphaba had tried to join her sister in slumber, but it was no use. As soon as Nanny had thought she had fallen asleep, Elphaba had quickly dressed in her usual black frock and surreptitiously descended the stairs to the door of the ballroom. _

_Her eyes were amazed at the elaborate and fanciful decorations that adorned the walls and hung from the rafters. Although she frowned, her father had always said they did not need to have extravagant and ornate figurines and adornments for their balls that they hosted. What really confused her was her mother's hypocrisy though. There was a young girl, not any older than herself, or maybe even younger, curtsying to her mother and father. _

_The girl's blonde curls were in some awful up-do that Elphaba was fairly certain she'd seen in Ozmopolitan because Nessa was reading an article the other day about the 'Ten Latest Fashion Trends in The EC'. Elphaba had rolled her eyes characteristically and promptly told Nessa that they only said that to make millions. The only way to actually know the trends of the Emerald City was to see them for yourself. _

_The girl was obviously from the Gillikin, no one in any other part of Oz would be caught dead in that amount of sparkle and glitter and Elphaba's nose wrinkled at the outfit. She could practically _taste _the girly-ness of the outfit. Oh, how she loathed it. Although a coil of jealousy tightened at Elphaba's mother blatantly complimenting the girl on her gaudy outfit. The girl blushed and curtsied. Elphaba's fists clenched. _

_Melena Thropp had never shown her own daughters that much affection. In actuality, Melena Thropp had never even held her daughters or said goodnight to them, let alone complimented them. Melena Thropp was a terrible mother. Full stop. A constant drunk, Elphaba had learned when she was six, young, but it wasn't young to Melena. Elphaba was in full knowledge of her mother's indiscretions when their father went travelling. Elphaba Melena Thropp knew _too _much. _

_Elphaba was about to leave when someone caught her eye. He obviously was not from Munchkinland. Elphaba knew every boy her age, mostly because she'd gone around threatening them all that if they didn't leave her alone she'd turn them to frogs. Needless to say they left her alone after that. Elphaba peered curiously through the crack, she saw blue eyes, but gasped. They were not blue, she corrected herself, they were azure. A vivid and bright they gleamed with such a childlike innocence that Elphaba was resentful of. She'd never knew a childhood. And here was this boy that paraded around his innocence as if it was a right. _

_But then he caught her eye and, what she assumed was, excused himself and made a beeline for the door. Elphaba nearly fell from her spot, but the rational side of her brain made a comeback and Elphaba ran towards the back door. Hoping to lose the boy, but Fiyero was a hunter in training and it didn't take him long to find her. She'd climbed up a tree and was hiding in the shadows, or trying to. _

"_Miss," a seventeen-year-old Fiyero called to Elphaba, "I mean you no harm, but I saw you staring and thought you were enamoured with my handsomeness and thought I would be doing us all a favour by coming to greet you." _

_Elphaba rolled her eyes and called, back, "I would rather be besotted with a monkey's rear than your face."_

"_Ouch, you could really hurt a man's ego like that," he said mockingly, but he frowned. This was not how it was meant to be going, she was meant to be falling over her head for him. She was not meant to sound or be smarter than he was and she was certainly not making comparisons between his face and a monkey's rear. _

"_You are much too young to have an ego," she told him. _

"_That really hurts, Miss," he said again, "so you're not attracted to me? I happen to me the Crown Prince Of The Vinkus."_

"_I pray for the people you will rule," she said with sarcasm dripping from her voice, "and for the record, I find you utterly repulsive."_

"_Oh, sorry for bothering you, Miss," Fiyero said rather dejected. For the first time during the whole night he was enjoying himself. For once someone didn't care for his title or anything, this girl was telling him like it was and he liked it. _

_Elphaba bit her lip, sensing she had hit a nerve. "Wait!" Elphaba cried scrambling down from the tree. She glanced around, but found no sign of the azure-eyed boy. She sighed disappointedly. _He's probably gone back to the party, _Elphaba thought. _Why would he want to stay here with me? I'm green. _Elphaba glanced towards her hands and gasped; under the moonlight they didn't look green, but almost white. The green wasn't evident, did that mean the strange azure-eyed Vinkun did not know of her strange verdigris. If not she would not mention it. Although the answer didn't come to her. _

_Elphaba felt a pair of arms envelope her waist and she nearly screamed, until she heard a very familiar voice say, "Gotcha."_

_Elphaba twisted in his arms and was about to make a snappy retort, but it fell short. He didn't act any older than she did, but he certainly did look it, even under the moonlight she could see it. He was a taller than her, by a fair bit. His hair covered his eyes, but Elphaba pushed it back with her finger, and for a fleeting moment she allowed herself to enjoy it. Enjoy the feeling of his arms around her waist. Enjoy the feeling of being touched for the first time in her life. _

"_So Miss, why aren't you at the party?" He asked his hands still tucked securely around her waist._

"_I have my reasons," Elphaba answered coolly. _

"_Of course, Miss," Fiyero said, not wanting to divulge further into the subject. _

"_The question still remains though," Elphaba said, detangling herself from his embrace, to his chagrin, "why aren't _you _at the party?_

_Fiyero ran a hand through his hair. "I found you," he answered truthfully, there was something about this girl that clicked, something that was different, he just couldn't put his finger on it. "I followed you out here and truth be told, you are a lot more fascinating than that Gillikin Girl. Did you see her?"_

"_The one that looks like an over frosted cupcake?" _

"_Yeah," Fiyero said, "Lacie Upland, not of the Upper Uplands though, which"—Fiyero adopted a much higher pitched voice for his imitation—"'totally unfairifyed,' she thinks anyway. I wasn't really listening, I was paying attention to you. Don't worry I won't tell anyone you're already besotted with me," he winked. _

_Elphaba turned an unflattering shade of crimson. "I am certainly no."_

"_Yes, you are, I caught you staring."_

"_That doesn't mean anything," Elphaba cried, "I merely means I find you a person of interesting character."_

_He raised a sceptical eyebrow, "You find me interesting?"_

_Elphaba sighed, "I'm not going to win, am I?"_

"_Nope."_

_She sighed and a comfortable silence fell upon them. Elphaba twisted a lock of hair around her finger unknowingly and Fiyero gulped. She was beautiful and in that moment, it made sense. He wanted to kiss her. He barely knew her though and from how things were going before, she'd probably hit or slap him in the best case scenario. But she was beautiful; she couldn't have been much younger than he was. Reason number two he should not kiss her, she could have been twelve for all he knew. _

"_Fiyero..." a voice called, shattering their moment. "Fiyero."_

_Fiyero groaned and Elphaba looked saddened at the prospect of him leaving. _

"_Is that your mother?" Elphaba asked. _

_Fiyero nodded. "It was nice meeting you," and without much thought or contemplation he kissed her. For a moment. And for one glorious, ephemeral moment. Elphaba allowed herself to be loved. Just for a moment, when he pulled back he gave her a genuine smile before dashing off. _

_Elphaba rested her forefinger on her lips, not believing the moment that had passed. She smiled. _

_**XoxoX**_

_Later when she was reprimanded for spilling grape juice on Lacie Upland's newest creampuff of a dress, Elphaba didn't care. When Elphaba was sentenced to a week of solitary confinement, she didn't really care about that one, albeit a bit depressed at the prospect of not being able to enter the home library at her free will. All she remembered from that night was her first kiss. She never forgot and never will. Although over the years, he forgot. But the memory still lay there. Hidden from view, but if he looked hard enough he'd find it._

* * *

"What a surprise, Lacie," Glinda said to her cousin, chewing her lower lip.

"Yes, it is, Lin," Lacie told Glinda.

"It is wonderful to meet you," Christopher said to Lacie, kissing the back of her hand, although unlike Elphaba, she didn't wipe it from her hand, she smiled flirtatiously back at him.

And Elphaba, Fiyero, Lyra, Boq, Nessa, Glinda and Avaric all fought the urge to hurl at the putrid display of faux affection.

"It's all very nice to meet you all," Lacie directed at what was supposed to be everyone, but mainly Fiyero, who stepped closer to Elphaba and encased his hand in hers.

Lacie glared at this, but continued smiling, "I cannot wait to take a tour of Kiamo Ko, I've heard many wonderful stories about this castle."

Avaric, who had a psychology degree from The University Of Munchkinland, subtly motioned to Fiyero and Elphaba 'no'. Elphaba picked up on his gestured and thanked him. Avaric noted Lacie's stance, she was trying not to be imposing, but give off an air of intimidation. It was a mind trick. A false sense of security before going for the kill. Before his stint at the computer place, he's been a member of the Gale Force's Elite Team the Behavioural Analysis Unit; they profiled serial killers across Oz, observing their behaviour to see where they would strike next. Lacie had also directed her greeting to Fiyero, she wanted something from him. But that lie topped the cake; she was obviously a trained actress, probably from the Emerald University or Shiz. No other University had such a refined Dramatic Arts or Theatre Program.

"I'm glad you have," Fiyero said and pulled Elphaba closer to him. Giving Lacie a clear message that her blissful, blonde brain could not comprehend, _I'm taken. _

"I'm sure Christopher can give you a tour," Brilly told Lacie, trying to ease the tension like the Good Samaritan she was.

"That would be wonderful," Lacie lied. _Damn, _she thought, this was going to be harder than she had anticipated.

"Christopher," Harold beckoned his son, "if you would."

"Of course, Father," he said as civilly as he could. Chris internally cursed.

**XoxoX**

"That did not go as planned," Lacie told Chris as they entered his room.

"No, it did not," he said. This was not meant to be happening, Fiyero was meant to be falling for Lacie, Fiyero was not meant to stick by his fiancée's side. Fiyero was the flighty one, but then, if that was so. Then why did Fiyero stick by the sarcastic, green girl than go for the green-eyed, blonde?

"There's something fishy going on..." Lacie commented.

"Agreed," Chris commented offhandedly, sitting himself on the bed.

"We need to up our game," Lacie said, pacing the length of the room, "I'll try and get Fiyero alone and you try and get Elphaba alone and we'll drive the wedge from there."

Chris shook his head. "That won't work, they do everything together and by everything, I mean _everything." _

"Sweet Lurline!" Lacie cried.

"I know, I'm sickened by the idea as well," Chris told her, "but the point is we won't get them alone. No matter how hard we try. They stick together like glue, and now that they think we're both up to something, they'll be inseparable."

"Damn," Lacie said and cursed in Gillikinese, "we need to up out game."

"But what to?" Chris asked, "Melena said to do whatever it takes, and I'm nearly out of cards to use."

"Not yet, dearest," Lacie said, "Melena told me a few things about Elphaba that you might be interested in."

"Do tell."

"She's insecure as hell—"

Chris cut her off. "Can hell be insecure?" he asked confusedly.

"Oh, shut up," Lacie snapped, "that's not the point."

"Then what is?" Chris asked, "Elphaba's insecure. I mean, who wouldn't be in her...state. She's green for Oz sake!"

"Yes, but she epitomes insecure, she might as well be the spokesperson for it," Lacie commented, "the point it, plant a few seeds of doubt in her mind and she'll run for the hills. That'll leave her for you and Fiyero for me. "

"Yes, but how are we doing to get them alone?" Chris asked, "I mean we're not the most trustworthy of people and with Glinda already hating you..."

"That overdressed creampuff didn't know an opportunity if it slapped her in the face," Lacie remarked derisively, "she had Fiyero once and she let him go. That, my friend, is the very definition of a 'missed opportunity.'"

"Yes, but Glinda's Elphaba's best friend, she'll surely warn Elphaba about your flighty ways and known boyfriend stealing."

"Well then, we'll better get at it," Lacie said, "shall we?"

"This better work," Chris said, "call me a Machiavellian or power hungry, but I want that Crown, Fiyero never deserved it. All he did in his youth was philandering around with women, he didn't care for it. I did, I studied. I took the lessons that Fiyero should have been taking. And for what? To see him get the crown I've work so hard for? No way! That moronic, brainless idiot will not what hit him, all he did was take advantage of his status and then he runs off to the Emerald City to start up a publishing company. No way in Oz, or any place for that matter, will he take my crown."

"That's right," Lacie whispered in his ear, "let that vengeance and anger fuel you, you shall have your moment soon. Just wait a little while longer."

**XoxoX**

"Oh, Elphie, she's just horrible!" Glinda told her. Glinda was telling the group, which consisted of Elphaba, Fiyero, Lyra, Boq, Nessa and Avaric about her cousin, Lacie. "And her hair's not even naturally blonde! She pretends it is, but it isn't. It's just horrible!" Glinda sobbed into Avaric's arms.

"There, there, Little Linny," a pet name he had adopted for Glinda in the past few weeks. For some strange reason, beyond Elphaba's reasoning, it had always seemed to make Glinda feel better. It was kind of like when Fiyero called her Fae. She secretly smiled at the memories.

"Oh, Ric, she's just awful and nasty and horrible! I hate, no, loathe, no, _detest _her!"

Elphaba gasped, Glinda had never sounded like she hated anyone so much. Sure, there Shiz start as roommates was a bit rocky, but they didn't full on hate each other, contrary to the rest of Shiz's student body. "Glin, that is a positively _horrible_ thing to say."

"I don't care, Elphie, I detest her, she's stolen more of my boyfriends that I can count," Glinda continued to sob.

"Hey, Linny," Avaric titled her chin up. "I am _not _going to leave you, you silly, little girl. I love you," he said softly pressing a kiss to her golden curls.

"I love you too, Ric, but I still worry," Glinda said, "I can already see her eyes on Fiyero, so watch out, Elphie."

Fiyero's hand on Elphaba's waist had tightened significantly. "I will," Elphaba replied, for some strange reason beyond her comprehension, she did not want to lose Fiyero. Again. _Damn, there she went again. Thinking that this charade; this pretence, was more than the façade it displayed. _

"She seems like a bitch to me," Lyra said and everyone stared at her, "what? Am I not allowed to cuss as well?"

"No," Fiyero answered for her and everyone laughed.

"Well," Nessa said. "I think we just need to be on the lookout," he fingers tightening around Boq's.

"Yes, we all need to be careful," Glinda said, wiping the excess tears from her face.

"And Fiyero, you need put a ring on Elphaba's finger," Lyra said, causing the group to look at her again. "What?" she asked. "I've seen the way Chris looks at her, he's obviously not getting the message that she's taken. You need to make it look official. Oz forbid why you haven't given her a ring yet, you've been engaged for nearly three months."

"I have given her one."

"You have?" Glinda asked.

Followed by Avaric's, "Really?"

And Nessa's look of scepticism.

Boq's, "And once again the Munchkin misses out again."

And last of all, Lyra's squeal of, "Show me it!"

"It's in the room, she took it off for a shower," Fiyero clarified.

"Oh..." Lyra said suggestively, "I see..."

Fiyero blanched, his sister should not be thinking about his sex life or lack thereof, unless he counted that very arousing dream in the morning.

"Anyway," Glinda said, "it's late and I need some sleep after today's events."

"Yes, I think that would be best," Boq said standing and grabbing the handles of Nessa's wheelchair.

"Night, everyone," Elphaba said as they all left her room. Elphaba locked the door and sat herself on the bed. They had become accustomed to sleeping in the same bed for the past three months of their fake engagement. Although, it was on the insistence of Elphaba that it was his castle, he was quick to correct her that it was his _parents' _castle, and that he should not have to sleep on the floor and the bed was large enough for the both of them.

"I actually do have a ring for you," he told her, rummaging through his luggage for it.

"Really? I didn't think you would," Elphaba told him honestly.

"Well, I've had it for a while now," he said, "actually, it was meant for you."

She knew what ring he was talking about. She's actually worn it or a while before their breakup. He pushed the small, black velvet ring box into her hands. And without even opening it, she knew what it would look like. It was a plain gold band with three stones in the middle, two emeralds on the outside and a diamond in the middle. He told her once that it represented their past, present and future. The emeralds were a literal representation of how she was beautiful and the diamond was her strength and how she was hard as them on the inside and out.

She opened the box. She was right. There inside that box lay her engagement ring from two years ago.

* * *

_**Two Years Ago **_

_ "Marry me," Fiyero had blurted one afternoon. _

_ She look up at him confused, but what surprised her was the sincere look in his eyes when he had asked. "What?"_

_ "Marry me," he said, gaining more confidence, "I love you and I want this to last. Oz, I love you, Fae and I want the whole world to know."_

_ She blushed at his words and smiled at him. "You really want to marry me?" she asked. _

_ "Yes."_

_ "Even though I can be a bit of a sarcastic bitch?"_

_ "Yes."_

_ "Even though it would be inappropriate of me to say yes because I'm your assistant."_

_ "Yes."_

_ "Even if we get into a fight and I give you the cold shoulder for days?"_

_ "Yes. Elphaba, You're killing me here, just answer the question," he pleaded with her. _

_ "Even though I'm green?" _

_ "Yes, Oz, Fae," he kissed her softly, "I love you so much and I wouldn't change anything else about you. Yes, that included the skin. I love you and never want to be parted from you. Oz, but if you don't want to marry me, that's completely understandable, I would rather have you in my life willing, then out of obligation."_

_ He was so sweet. And understanding, like he always was. He always understood her. He was willing to wait for everything. Willing to wait for her. Every time. Now it was her turn to give something back to him. "Yes," she breathed out. _

_ "What?" he asked as his mouth turned to the sweetest smile she had seen. _

_ "Yes, I'll marry you," she said, kissing him softly, "you're right. I love you and you love me. The arrangement we had before was I like you and I want to see if this works. Getting married says that I love you and this works. Oz, Yero, I love you, so, so much. Don't leave me."_

_ "I'll never leave you, I love you too much, Fae," he said, pulling her closer to him. "Either of you," he whispered in her ear._

* * *

She slid the ring onto her fourth finger and held it up for him to look at. Oz, he'd missed that ring on her fourth finger. He'd missed it, more than he would admit to anyone, even himself. He smiled at her, and he wished for an evanescent moment. For one moment that it was real and not some business deal they had negotiated with each other. But the illusion was shattered.

"Do you want me to give it back to you once we're done with this façade?" she asked.

"No," he said, leaning over and kissing her forehead, "It was always meant for you."

_ Always had, always will be._

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for all for your reviews. Especially Yero and Fae, whose review I missed in chapter 9, sorry dearest. And anywho who read my Chemistry 101 one shot, thank you, that was a test run for the beginning scene of this chapter. I love torturing Fiyero and the Ball flashback will have more meaning soon... **

**Thank you to, vinkunwildflowerqueen, Yero and Fae, Lyra124, ComingAndGoingByBubble, ChaoticSymphonyOfDarkness, Einhorn, Speaker, XxQueenElphabaOfTheWestxX and Confusifyed Lady for all your lovely reviews. **

**ChaoticSymphonyOfDarkness, Thank you, I'm getting better. I'm curious to see what you think about Glinda though...**

**Einhorn, Aw, you're sweet, thanks, I'm glad you're liking the story. **

**Speaker, That's what I was going for, my sister and I watch way too much Pokémon to be healthy. **

**Confusifyed Lady, Geez, Miri, no need to go spastic. Oz, you're a character. And I;m glad you liked the crack-ficy things. **

**Okay, I would love to hear your opinions on why or how they broke up and what you think Chris, Lacie, Frex and Melena are planning. **

**Larri**

**Smiles**

**x **

**Ps. I think you'll guys like some of the upcoming chapters, especially eighteen. I've planned out the plot chapter by chapter, so eighteen is the one to look at...so eight more updates. **

**Pss. I go to Italy and Greece in 48 days! **


	12. Chapter 11: Juxtaposition Of Longing

**Diclaimer: If I owned it, I wouldn't be at FAN Fiction. **

**A/N: I am SO sorry for not updating in like three weeks, I have perfectly reasonable explanations for that. One, I was completely swamped with homework, seriously, I was reduced to doing it on Friday afternoon just to get it all done. That was a low point of my life. Secondly, my computer had a spaz and the keyboard wouldn't work and typing with the on screen keyvboard gets tedious after a while. Thirdly, I went to see _Love Never Dies_ and The Harry Potter Exhibition last week, so I really couldn't update. **

**Ps. Love Never Dies is okay, Phantom of The Opera is like ten times better though, except at the end when Christine comes back and returns the ring to the Phantom makes me cry like crazy and I hate Raoul, he's a but of a sook and a fop. I mean seriously who tells everyone of his 'great' plan in the open, when the Phantom could be listening? And is it weird that I find the Phantom kind of attractive despite the whole mask, mudering people and etc thing? **

**And Fourthly, I was moving furniture from my room and all my stuff was in boxes, it's really sad when your whole life can be put into six small boxes. :'( **

**I'm very sorry about that. Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Love you lots and lots. Oh, I watched the Wedding Date last night, love it. Lots of inspiration from that movie because it kind of reminded me of this story. **

**Enjoy this update, it's kind of short and fillerish, but it's fluffy, I assure you. I'm going to shut up know...and try and figure out how to make these things shorter. **

* * *

**C****hapter 11**

**Juxtaposition Of Longing**

"Fiyero!"

Fiyero bolted from his desk chair, his book discarded on the desk, and rushed to the sound of Elphaba's uncharacteristic squeal. Fiyero rushed instantly to the door, but before he could reach the handle, Elphaba had bolted out the door first and, rather comically, they both collided into one another. Fiyero reflexively wrapped an arm around her waist to prevent her from falling, he was about to ask what was the problem, but then he was suddenly _very_ aware that all that was covering her body was a towel. A small towel. He swallowed nervously and tried _not _to think about the treasures that lay underneath that towel. He mentally cursed himself for such thoughts and coughed to cover up any signs of arousal and apprehension on his part. He couldn't, however, stop his arms drawing her in closer, pulling her flush against him.

Heat flooded to Elphaba's cheeks and was very aware of her state of dress...or lack thereof. Nonetheless, against her own free will and better judgement, she couldn't help but tighten her grip on his forearms at his possessive hold on her, which, surprisingly, she had no qualms about.

"Er, hi," Elphaba said more heat flooding to her cheeks, if that was possible. "Sorry for the squeal, uh, yelp, or something..." she trailed off, not trusting her words at present, but she continued. "I swear I'm not being attacked or anything...at least I don't think so...but it appears that someone else has taken residence in our shower..." Elphaba trailed off again, realising she was babbling and her current speech impediment, Elphaba pushed Fiyero away from her, putting as much distance as humanly possible between them at present. Partly to regain a semblance of coherent speech, another part was that she could not handle his proximity. She could practically _feel_ her desire for him. And it unnerved her. Scared her beyond relief. She needed to get away; leave. But she couldn't. She wouldn't. She promised him, because if she did leave that's all she'd be. A broken promise.

Although, her thoughts were not as agreeing with her. The voice that had once labelled her a coward for her shower...predicament, was now calling her an idiot, for distancing herself from Fiyero, a man who had willingly rushed to her rescue and who didn't mind her company, heck, he liked it, he'd told her on several occasions, but for also, trying to ignore that little voice in her head telling it felt oh-so-good to be trapped in his embrace. Elphaba continued to stubbornly ignore the voice and smiled charmingly at her slightly catatonic fiancé, as if nothing was amiss, although internally she was having a mental breakdown.

After a few tense moments of staring, Fiyero cleared his throat; looking away from Elphaba and trying hard not scan his eyes along her figure, which he remembered as very...curvaceous. He rubbed his neck and found the abstract painting hanging from the wall more interesting. He cleared his throat again and forced a response from his throat.

"What?" he asked, cursing himself for his lack of articulation, but it was a start.

"Take a look for yourself," Elphaba said, somewhat smug that she still had that effect on him, however as she gestured to the bathroom she tried not to let it show.

Fiyero nodded mindlessly, his mind distracted at the moment; he watched a droplet of water create a path down the column of her throat and slide down the furrow of her breasts and wanted nothing more than to trace that path of the droplet with his tongue. He blanched at the thought and briskly stepped around her and made his way through towards the bathroom.

"Fiyero, this is Oz, Oz, Fiyero," Elphaba said entering behind Fiyero, careful to keep his protectively positioned in front of her.

He glanced back at her with a raised eyebrow and turned back to the spider perched calmly on the bathtub's edge. "Oz?" he questioned amusedly, forcing himself to sound nonchalant, whilst every part of his body was attuned to the feel of Elphaba's body against his; her hands clutching his shoulders as she hid behind him, and granted it was not the way he would of liked her body pressed against his, but it was a start.

"It seemed an appropriate name for a spider," Elphaba explained, "it reminded me of the Great Oz; the way he barges in and claims my bathtube for his own, without the slightly trace of fear or shame."

Fiyero shook his head at Elphaba's claim, her adorable proclamation somewhat distracting him from his lust. Only somewhat though. "Well, there is something regal and pompous about the way he carries himself," Fiyero joked, joining in about her fantastical musings.

Elphaba beamed at his contribution and felt bold enough to rest her cheek on his shoulder and her arms sliding around to his stomach as she continued to warily survey the spider.

"Shall I remove Oz his newly conquered territory so you may resume your bath, Miss Elphaba?" Fiyero declared gallantly, emboldened by her touch; her need for security.

"I would be most grateful for that, oh-kind sir," Elphaba said melodramatically, "but don't hurt the poor creature."

"I wouldn't dream of it," Fiyero said automatically, finding Elphaba's concern for the creature of her dismay endearing. He smiled softly at her and rested his palms on her fingers.

He relished her touch for one more moment before, rather regrettably, pulled himself from her embrace to coax Oz into his hand. He was quite enjoying being Elphaba's shield and her loathed to give it up. It was much too enjoying to do so. Fiyero stepped towards the bathtub and coaxed the spider into his hand, cupping his hand over as a lid to contain the spider.

Elphaba shuddered at the ease of Fiyero touching the arachnid and she stepped to the corner of the bathroom to give a wide path, and as he stepped out of the bathroom she called out after him, "Thank you, you're my hero. I will find a way to reward you later," and gave him a beaming smile of gratitude and shut the door gently and returning to her bath.

Fiyero soaked the image of her in before reading towards the balcony and gently depositing the spider on the edge.

"I don't know whether to thank or curse you," Fiyero remarked to the creature. "You have permanently that image of Elphaba into my books of fantasies; Oz knows I barely keep my hands off her now. And my lack of self-control..." Fiyero trailed off burying his head in his hands.

"It's sheer torture being around her...although"—Fiyero contemplated—"it is the sweetest kind of torture, she's remarkable, isn't she?" he asked dropping his hands and still noticing the creature had not moved; still calmly perched on the ledge.

"And now I'm discussing my feelings with a spider," Fiyero told himself, "a Great Ozian spider nonetheless...I have truly gone mad." Fiyero retreated back to his book and shook his head; his characteristic peace and contentment of before gone of thoughts of what-might-have-been...

**XoxoX**

"Ooh, Elphie!" Glinda cried, grabbing Elphaba's left hand and inspecting the engagement ring Fiyero had given, well, technically, re-given, Elphaba the night before. "Even if he is an ass, even I have to admit, he has great taste."

Elphaba blushed, but knew it was uncalled for, there was no reason she should be blushing on Fiyero's behalf and at Glinda's poorly veiled compliment. "Uh, thanks...I think..."

"Oh, Elphie, the ring is gorgeous," Glinda gushed, paused and then added. "Avaric could learn a thing for two from Fiyero about buying jewellery. Couldn't we, dearest?" Glinda directed at Avaric.

"Linny," Avaric warned and frowned, "I thought we agreed to never speak of that again."

"Oh, details, Ric. Just minor details," Glinda said waving off her significant other, who just seemed annoyed and perplexed at the situation, but shrugged and wrapped an arm around Glinda's waist. Glinda giggled and began to squabble with Avaric about how his closet was just too small for all her clothes to fit in to if they were going to move into together. And her claim for this was...

"But, Ric, your closet is just too small, have you seen it?" Glinda cried.

"Yes, Linny," Avaric told his hyperactive girlfriend, "I live there."

"What? In the closet?" Glinda asked, confused.

Avaric sighed, "Have you had sugar today?"

"No, of course not, dearest," Glinda giggled, "I'm just very excited."

Elphaba rolled her eyes at her friend's incorrect logic, but smiled anyway. Glinda deserved to be happy and she was. Elphaba glanced down to her fourth finger, she twisted it around her finger; making sure it wasn't a trick of light or her imagination floating off without her. But it wasn't a trick of the light, or her imagination floating off without her. Fiyero, the playboy extraordinaire she knew from the office, the Vinkun Prince who had risked his business to help his family's Sovereignty remain, and the gentle lover she had known from years ago.

Oz, thinking about him like this made her sound like she _wanted _him. Oz! That was the last thing she wanted. _Oz! _It was not supposed to be like this. All she was meant to do was play the façade of the doting fiancée for a while, and then she'd be free, but now, thinking about it. Maybe...possibly...just maybe...there was possibility...that she...didn't want to be free anymore.

**XoxoX**

"Really, Elpha?"

Elphaba looked up from her laptop and snorted at the source of his dismay, he gestured to his face incredulously. His hair mused from sleep and Elphaba's almost melted at his expression. Almost.

"Yes, did you need something?" she asked; her face epitomising innocence and closed her laptop with a soft click.

Elphaba's jaw twitched at his expression, not knowing if he was grinding his teeth or fighting back laughter. In her defence she couldn't think of anything better.

"Did I need something? Ahem, let's see," he began, he reached up and pulled a yellow sticky note from his forehead. "Nine twenty-three a.m.," he read officiously, "Moria from the Ozmopolitan called. Said something about a photo shoot and interview. Too much girlish squealing in the background to understand anything else, although I did understand the jealousy directed at me answering the phone."

Fiyero scrunched the sticky note and tossed it at Elphaba, who absentmindedly caught it, finding it all too amusing. Fiyero pulled another sticky note from his face, a bright blue one from the side of his nose.

"Ten thirty-seven a.m.. Your shareholders called, wondering why in Oz you weren't up yet. You're wasting half the day apparently and that your fiancée's voice is sexy. Too embarrassed to write the rest down."

Elphaba reached up and caught the next sticky note tossed in her direction. Finding it increasingly difficult to keep a straight face at Fiyero's humorous reaction at her actions.

"Eleven ten a.m. A telemarketer called. Asked if you were interested in owning a new, state-of-the-art vegetable dicer. I told them I cared too much for my safety and keeping all my limps intact to allow you near anything sharp. Thanks by the way," he added with dripping sarcasm, pausing to shoot Elphaba a glare.

Elphaba finally gave up on trying not to laugh and let out a burst of laughter as a violet ball of paper was hurled her way and added it to the plethora of sticky notes. Fiyero then pulled a hot pink one from his chin and turned the most unrefined shade of cerise at finding out its colour.

"Eleven forty-six a.m. Moria called again, demanding I put you on the phone. I told her to go to hell and leave my fiancé alone and promptly hung up on her."

Fiyero raised an incredulous eyebrow at her message, but flung the sticky note in her direction, where she was trying her best to stifle her boisterous laughter. He rolled his eyes and pulled another sticky from his neck.

"Eleven fifty-three a.m. Andy Mathers from the third floor of the office called, wondering if he should change your and my records prematurely because we were getting married. I told him to hold off and he said something about me sleeping with the boss to get a promotion. I gave _him_ a piece of my mind and was so tempted to fire him."

Elphaba had relinquished any hope of containing her laughter and was too distracted to bother catching the last sticky note.

"Is there any reason why you couldn't have left the messages on my bedside table, instead of you know, plastering them to my _face!" _he cried out, sending a raised eyebrow Elphaba's way.

"Because in my experience, you never notice messages anywhere else, so I thought I'd try something new, which, apparently, was highly successful."

Fiyero let out an indignant snort of laughter and rubbed the remnants of adhesive from his face. "How did you find my rainbow sticky notes anyway? I thought I'd lost those years ago."

Elphaba nodded over towards the stack of sticky notes on his desk and returned to her laptop, Fiyero marched over to them and tucked neatly them into his desk draws and moved over to peer at Elphaba's shoulder, his hands resting lightly on her upper arms.

"What are you doing?" he asked, resting his chin on her shoulder, his hands resting on her stomach and skimming the edge of her blouse, his touch being foreign against her skin. Elphaba's breath hitched and her eyes widened at his affectionate gesture. Her breathing slowed and her heart raced. Her body leaned back in the armchair and her toes curled in her shoes. She could feel the heat spreading across her navel as his fingers idly travelled higher. And she wanted nothing more than to replay that scene from the bathroom a few days ago. Oz, it was not natural this desire. Oz! Life had a twisted sense of irony. She mentally cursed herself at her very apparent arousal at his actions.

"Nothing," she let out quickly, slamming her laptop shut and pulling her body from his actions, and

"Are you okay, Elpha?" he asked, resting his forearms against the top of the armchair. "You look a little flushed," he smirked and gave her a good-natured wink.

Elphaba wanted nothing more than to wipe that smile right off his pretty face..._Oz, I did not just think that, _she thought to herself in horror.

"I'm fine," Elphaba said quickly.

"Are you sure?" he asked, "I could always fix that _ache_ you crave," he jested gently.

Elphaba, infuriated, pulled him off the chair and flush against her, harshly tugging his tie down to make his face level with hers. "Now you listen here, Mister Tiggular," Elphaba said bitingly, "do not make comments like that. Say nothing of that sort and you'll keep all your limbs intact. Are we understood, Mister?"

"Oh course, Elpha," Fiyero said abstractedly, the fire in her eyes were burning bright, albeit from anger, but he'd just have to work on that. They shone with such fiery passion that he had missed and Oz, they looked as they could engulf him in the flames. He would not be complaining if they did, he'd never admitted this to anyone, but he'd missed her. More than anyone could imagine. Even himself.

"Good," Elphaba finished, giving him a quick kiss on the mouth. And as soon as it had come, it was gone. He had no real time to appreciative the gesture; slightly dejected that his first kiss with her after all these years was a chaste peck. She released his tie and efficiently exited the room. Leaving a gaping, speechless Fiyero behind her, he could still feel her burning touch against his lips and her fiery eyes that unlocked his soul. He smacked his palm against his forehead. He was falling for her again. And he was falling fast.

**XoxoX**

Elphaba would have mentally slapped herself at her action prior, but she didn't need to, she was currently sitting in the back on the balcony and repeated slapping her forehead against her palm. It was so stupid to do so. She hadn't meant to kiss him, it just happened. It seemed so normal to do so. They had always seemed to end like that. It seemed like a natural reaction to kiss him in that situation...so _normal. _And she craved it. Craved his gentle touch from years ago. She groaned and cursed, resting her head in her hands. She hated this. This cat and mouse chase. All the pent up sexual tension. She loathed it. Granted, she wasn't the most experienced when it came to relationships, but Oz, he was infuriating sometimes.

And he hadn't even done anything! He was just his usual charming self and she would fall...no, correction, she would stumble, head first, over him and it was when she least expected it. Oz, it wasn't when he did wildly inappropriate actions towards her. It was when he read her to sleep or tucked a stand of ebony behind her ears. It was when she least expected it. Like the last time...

* * *

_**Four Years and Eleven Months Ago **_

_"Are you always this charming, or am I just special?" Elphaba asked Fiyero incredulously raising her eyebrow. _

_ "You, my dear, are just incredibly special," he said bringing her hand up to his mouth and giving it a chaste kiss._

_ Elphaba frowned at his outwards display of affection and pulled her hand away from his. "I think we can leave the PDAs for later in the evening," Elphaba said sweetly. _

_ "Looking forward to it," Fiyero said and then grinned impishly, then added... "but what will we be doing tonight?" he asked suggestively, but sounded so nonchalant about it. _

_ Elphaba rolled her eyes and slapped his chest good-naturedly. "You're infuriating, you know that right?" _

_ "Yep," he said popping the 'p', "aware and damn proud of it."_

_ "Why am I not surprised," Elphaba said shaking her head slightly, "and to think you're my boss."_

_ "Oz, help us all," he cried out theatrically. _

_ Elphaba laughed good-heartedly and propped her head on his thigh, completely unaware of the internal battle he was going through and how all of his very little self-control was in use to refrain him from flipping her over and making love to her on that very couch. Although he was fairly certain that she could stop him. _

_ "Although, you're stocks are doing fairly well for you as a boss," Elphaba commented. _

_ "Only because I have you as my assistant, dearest," Fiyero told her truthfully, running his fingers through her hair, then it hit him. "What happened to no PDAs?"_

_ "We're all hypocrites in life. I'm just more inclined to be a sarcastic bitch most of the time," she joked half-heartedly._

_ Fiyero frowned and pulled her up from her position on his lap, he gently brushed back a tress of ebony and grabbed his hand in hers and rubbed circles around the back of it. "You, my dear, are _not _a bitch, albeit a little sarcastic, but you certainly are not a bitch. You are wonderful and beautiful and don't you even think about calling yourself a hypocrite. Yes, everyone is a little hypocritical, but you are the least hypocritical person I know."_

_ Elphaba reddened at his words and smiled affectionately at him, she pulled her hand from his grasp and rested it against his cheek. "I'm glad you think so. It's nice to know you think so highly of me," and she kissed his cheek softly, lingering slightly longer than she originally anticipated. _

_ "You're perfect," he breathed out, slightly delirious from her actions. _

_ Elphaba sent a glare his way and rested her head in the crook of his neck. "Perfection's overrated," she said against his neck, he could feel her hot breath against his skin and it was so innocently erotic..._which is quite oxymoronic,_ he decided._

_ "You're just wonderful," he said, "practically perfect."_

_ "Stop quoting Ozway tunes to me now."_

_ "Sorry, love, I can't stop it," he said, not realising the 'love' had slipped out until afterwards. He cursed himself, he knew Elphaba was wary, he didn't want to scare her away and he would have definitely if she heard him. _

_ "Just because we went to see _The Phantom of the Opera, _on our first date does not give you any right to start quoting any other Ozway show." _

_ "Sorry, Elphaba," he said, feeling somewhat relived that she had not heard the love slip out. _

_ "It's fine, it's all I ask of you," she said, grinning impishly at his dropped jaw. _

_ "Who's quoting musicals now?" he asked, pinning her shoulders to the lounge. She tired wriggling from his grasp, but it was a futile attempt. He had the upper hand. _

_ "Let me go!" she cried, laughing between words. _

_ "Sorry," he said kissing her on the mouth, "this is a playing field where I have the upper hand."_

_ "Until I learn a few tricks," she purred running her hands through his hair. _

_ "Oh, do that again, Elphaba," he grinned wickedly, pressing a soft kiss to her neck, he felt her body curling underneath him and he continued to plaster kisses along the exposed flesh of her neck. _

_ "Now, you're just—" _

_ He silenced her with a kiss and she was quite content to continue doing so, if it weren't for the voice that brought them out of their actions. _

_ "Ahem."_

_ "Elphaba and Fiyero both simultaneously looked at their intruder and both mentally cursed. Fiyero moved himself off Elphaba and Elphaba straightened her shirt...which had miraculously hitched itself higher on her, exposed the emerald flesh of her stomach._

_ "If you're not too busy giving you assistant a tonsillectomy, Fiyero," the man said authoritatively and pushed his glasses higher up his nose. _

_ Elphaba's teeth grinded against one another at the man's patronising and disproving tone. Her lip curled into a sneer and her eyes found themselves looking out at the wall. _

_ "I would appreciate if you looked at the figures from last year," the man directed at Fiyero with a trace of scorn and disdain._

_Fiyero wanted nothing more than to punch the man's lights out and possibly to the other side of Oz. Fiyero subtly glanced at Elphaba, who looked as if she wanted to throttle the man and run from the scene at the same time. _

_ "Mister Peterson," Fiyero said tautly and pulled Elphaba's protectively against him, who blushed at the action, but said nothing. "First off, you will address me as Mister Tiggular. You will not comment on what I do with my assistant and you _certainly _not comment on my assistant with that patronising tone."_

_ The man shrugged, "I'm sorry, Mister Tiggular, but certainly you must know."_

_ Fiyero's fists clenched and his jaw locked, he barely forced out the words. "Know what?"_

_ "Honestly, a young, green girl from Munchkinland applies for a job and the first thing she does is find out how to get into the boss's pants. I'm surprised you haven't figured it out yet."_

_ Elphaba's bottom lip trembled. She would not cry. She would not cry. She forced the tears to subside and put on her best glare as humanly possible. _

_ "I don't know who you think you are, but I suggest you leave this instant," Fiyero said lowly, genuinely angry at the man who had caused Elphaba her tears. _

_ "I'm just saying," the man said leaning against the door frame, "people in this office talk and they say they would love to tap—"_

_ "Enough!" Fiyero bellowed, which caused Elphaba to squeak and a round of employees had shuffled into the office hall to see what was happening. "I honestly don't care who you are, but I am sorely tempted to fire you for inappropriate employee conduct."_

_ "Oh, Fiyero, just do it," Elphaba screeched at him, causing everyone to jump slightly at her uncharacteristic tone. "Ozdamnit just do it, he's lazy, incompetent and he spends more time cheating on his wife that he does at the office."_

_ "Why you little," the Peterson said making a beeline for Elphaba, but Fiyero stepped protectively in front of her. _

_ "You've done quite enough, Peterson," Fiyero said a layer of ice lacing his tone. "Now, you will apologise to my assistant then proceed to start packing, you are fired for inappropriate workplace/employee conduct and not fulfilling your workplace contract."_

_ "Buh—" Peterson tried. _

_ "No, buts," Fiyero cut him off. "Now, apologise," he demanded forcefully. _

_ "Sorry, Miss Elphaba," Peterson mumbled and shuffled gloomily out. _

_ "Now, go pack," Fiyero order after him and then caught sight of the rest of the employees gathering around. "Back to work!"_

_ They all shuffled out of the office and Elphaba collapsed on the lounge and groaned. "I'm sorry," was all she said. _

_ "I'm as much at fault as you are, my dear," Fiyero said tiredly. _

_ "I'm still sorry," Elphaba told earnestly. _

_ "You have nothing to be sorry about, love," Fiyero said kissing her forehead, "if you want to be sorry for anything, be sorry that you didn't convince me to fire him earlier."_

_ Elphaba laughed, "I'm sorry for that too, dear."_

_ "Good, now lunch. I'm feeling like steamed artichokes," at her questionable expression he clarified, "that was not meant to sound like that. It was in no way meant to be a hit at you, I was merely trying to...I'm rambling aren't I?"_

_ "Yes, but you're cute when you do," Elphaba said, "So lunch...?"_

"_Of course, love," Fiyero said punctuating his point with a kiss, "anything for you."_

_And with those words, Elphaba had the slightest...a sinking feeling...that she might have...might have possibly...fallen in love with Fiyero Tiggular._

* * *

_Oz,_ Elphaba thought, her head bolting upright and her face no longer in her hands, it was as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Her impenetrable defences she had set up to protect her was long gone, they'd left a whole ago, but she hadn't realised it. And it came as a snap. A flash. A revelation that she had not known existed. Her heart burst with excitement and her lips turned to a wide smile, but it quickly dissipated. She had that sinking feeling again; that she might have...she might have possibly...she might have possibly fallen for her ex...all over again. Without reserve. Without better judgment or a stronger force of will. And she groaned and mentally kicked herself. Scolded. Reprimanded. Chided. Admonished, herself. It was not right to be feeling this way again.

She was not meant to _be_ in love with him again! It was _all_ sorts of _wrong_, he'd left _her_. It was not her fault why they'd broke up. Elphaba looked out towards the fading colours of dusk. The pigments of pink and orange blending together in some sort of twisted harmony. It was surreal and it was captivating. Elphaba sighed once more, leaving her seat. She did not know how she would do it, whether it would be sheer force or will or extreme self-control, she promised herself that she would not, certainly not, ever make him known to her feelings. Ever. For as long as she was at the Kiamo Ko, she wouldn't. Elphaba had no idea how'd she face in when she went back to the room though...

* * *

**A/N: That wasn't too horrible was it? I also have recently found out that review replies were illegal. Whoops. **

**Also, I apologise if this chapter was a bit chaotic and muddled, I have another story idea that I want to do so I'm trying to finish this one. Also, the sticky note thing happened to me the other day, my best friend, Spencer did that to me. I was so pissed, but thought it'd make a great Fiyeraba moment...**

**And I thought Elphaba was a little OOC through the whole thing. Sorry about that. I'm going to shut up now. Unedited because my fingers and arms are dead. I've been typing for six hours straight. I'm ready to go to bed. Night!**

**Larri**

**smiles**

**x**


End file.
